The socioeconomic contribution of the recreational fishery based on input–output analysis: The case of China

Abstract

Recreational fishing is important in China, as it provides a source of employment and income across a wide range of economic sectors where consumers spend money on coastal fishing tourism, fishing equipment and medicine, and other activities. There is a need for greater information about recreational fishery activities for recreational fishery management and policy. This paper estimates the socioeconomic effect of the recreational fishery by I-O analysis, systematically defining the economic activities occurring in and dependent upon the recreational fishery environment and disaggregating these activities from the China national accounts. The results showed the following: (1) The socioeconomic effect of the recreational fishery in China is small compared with other industrialized countries, such as the U.S. and the UK, among these, the promoting role of creating new jobs is very limited in China. (2) The inducing effect of household consumption on recreational fishery itself is also the smallest compared with other industries. (3) The recreational fishery seems to have a stronger employment-inducing effect than traditional primary industries, such as agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery industry in China. (4) The likely production and consumption linkages among recreational fishery, manufacturing, wholesale, and retail are stronger in contrast with other industries. Quantifying the socioeconomic contribution of recreational fisheries illustrates how recreational fisheries can boost economic development, which can help various stakeholders improve and increase their cognition and investment in recreational fisheries management and related infrastructure projects.