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America’s 40 million anglers spend more than $45 billion annually on fishing equipment, transportation, lodging and others expnses, according to a new report from the American Sportfishing Association.

The ripple-effect, as that $45 billion works its way through the economy, the ASA projects the total economic impact to be about $125 billion, supporting more than a million jobs and generating $16 billion in income taxes.

The amount that anglers on average spend each year on things like rods, lues, hooks and other tackle climbed 16 percent from 2001 to 2006.

Beyond the money spent on the sport, ASA President Mike Nussman noted, “America’s anglers are in many ways the nation’s most powerful force for the environment investing hundreds of millions of dollars each year in fisheries management and conservation through taxes on fishing equipment and license sales.”

• fishing
• economic
• impact