Economics of Wildlife

Economics of Wildlife

Someone’s got to pay for wildlife…

2011 Total Expenditures

• Fishing = 42 Billion

• Hunting: 34 billion

• Wildlife watching: 55 billion

• Total = 145 billion (1% of GDP)

2016: 184,000,000 hunters

Days hunting: 147,000,000 hunting trips

North Carolina

• 3.3 billion dollars generated from trip related costs

  • gas, food, lodging

  • low-expenditure activities

2011 Participants

• 90 million people (38%) participated in outdoor recreation

• 37 million fishing or hunting

• each individual spent $2,407

• 22 million 6-15 year olds participated

Revenue Comparisons: Fishing

• More Americans fish than play basketball (24 million) and football (8.9 million) combined

• More American women fish than play basketball (7.5 million), volleyball (6.4 million) or softball (5.9 million)

• If fishing were ranked as a corporation in the Fortune 500, it would outrank Sears, Pepsi, Apple and Intel

• The more than 1 million jobs supported by anglers are more than the number of people employed by Home Depot, Target, and General Electric combined

• Roughly equal United Parcel Service’s 2010 revenue which is ranked 44 in the Fortune 500

• The number of jobs supported by anglers could employ all attendees of the last seven Super Bowls—twice!

• The economic activity generated by fishing is greater than the gross state products of 23 states

Who pays? Sportsmen?

• Hunting/fishing license fees by states

  • significant revenue for states

• Federal

  • duck stamps

  • excise taxes

    • Pittman-Robertson (wildlife), Dingle-Johnson (fish)

    • 1937, Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration

    • 11% tax on hunting equipment

      • 50% habitat, 20% acquisition, 25% research

Benefits:

• Since 1937, hunters = 14 billion from Pittman

• Since 1950, anglers = 38 billion Dingell-Johnson

• P-R funding pays 75% of costs

• States pay 25%

Who pays?

• Tax check offs

  • many states now have them for a variety of causes

  • wildlife state tax return

• License plates NC and many other states

• Sales taxes—Missouri, Minnesota

  • 2007 raised $102 mm

  • Minnesota 3/8 of 1% sales tax = $1 per person per week

  • Other states are considering similar models

Who pays?—Others

• Teaming with Wildlife Coalition (1990’s)

  • push to create funding for nongame

• State Wildlife Grants (SWG) (2001)

  • comprehensive wildlife conservation plan

    • provides federal grant funds to state fish and wildlife agencies for developing and implementing programs that benefit wildlife and their habitats, including species that are not hunted or fished

    • NC’s was the first in the country to be approved

Non-consumptive wildlife

• Watchable wildlife

  • whales

  • whooping cranes

• Ecotourism (ecoquesttravel.net)

• Provide local dollars

• Tax check offs, license plate sales, sales taxes, etc

Farming Wildlife

• Civets in Ethiopia for musk

• Sambar deer in Taiwan for antler velvet as an aphrodisiac

• Ostrich farms in NJ

• Elk

• Fur farming

  • mink, chinchilla, nutria, sable

  • Benefit: may relieve pressure on wild populations—not scientifically evaluated

  • Problem: animal welfare

  • Liability: can escape and establish an exotic invasive

• Bird nest soup in Asia

  • Cave swifts

    • Birds’ nest soup

• African ungulates

  • Adapted to local conditions

  • Efficient grazing, niche separation, water conservation, mouth shape, etc

• Domestication problems of free-ranging African ungulates

  • Competition with existing meat trade

  • Habitat destruction

  • Opposition from conservationists

  • Low profit margins

  • Distant markets

Game Animals

• Trophy hunting

  • all hunters have a little bit of trophy hunting in them, even if they hunt for meat primarily

  • trophy hunting endangered species is where it gets troubling

  • this term has been manipulated in the media

• World Hunting Association

Hunting/Fishing

• We don’t want the European Model here

• Costs to participate

  • equipment, travel, license, housing, etc

    • TV shows, magazines, outdoor expos, etc

      • Dixie Deer Classic

  • Banquets/fundraisers

  • Per animal harvested/caught

    • $1000’s to $10,000’s

Leases

• Can be profitable for farmers and ranchers

  • offsets cost of crop damage, land taxes, management costs

  • farmers manage deer in NC

• May lead to less participation of hunting overall…

Dr. Valerius Geist Thought…

• Public trust is eroded by:

  • game ranching

  • leases and fee hunting so fewer can participate

  • hunting solely for “sport”

• Hunting must be thought of as part of an ecological community

North American Model

• Non-Frivolous Use, using all of the animal killed

• Hunting Opportunity for All

• Prohibition on Commerce of Dead Wildlife

• In USA, wildlife publicly owned but access under the control of landowner (e.g. Texas)