Enhancing Fishing Access Through a National Assessment of Recreational Boating Access
Strategic Priority
Capacity Building, Conservation Education, and Coordination of Conservation Policies - Coordination of Conservation Policies
Project Description
Recreational boating and fishing activities are intertwined. Consequently, as the number of participants in one activity falls, the other falls as well: Participation in both activities has fallen over the past few years. Despite the link between boating and fishing access and participation, recruitment, and retention among boaters and anglers, a comprehensive national assessment of the current and future needs for boating access had never been conducted before this assessment.
This project addressed NCN2 in that it was designed ( l) to determine whether a lack of boating access has contributed to the decline in boating and fishing participation and (2) created an assessment tool for boating access that states: regions can replicate to measure their boating access needs. This assessment provides states with a national and regional context to address boating access issues affecting boating and fishing satisfaction and participation. It provides tools to assist states in assessments of local boating access to guide funding decisions.
Project Facts
- Organization Name: State Organization of Boating Access
- Organization Status: NGO classified as 501(c)(3)
- State: Washington, DC
- Obligation: $187,996
- Start Date: 01-01-2013
- End Date: 12-31-2014
Results
The research included focus groups, surveys, analysis, reporting, and an assessment tool, adaptable at national, regional, and state levels, designed to measure change, progress, and improvement in access and obstacles to access.
The project's specific goals were to:
l. Determine whether · a lack of boating access has contributed to the decline in boating/fishing participation. The overall results suggest that lack of boating access contributes to lower participation among some boaters than they otherwise would have with better access. Certainly, if 43% of boaters cite crowding at launch sites as a major
or minor problem, and 30% of boaters say that not enough boat access areas are a major or
minor problem (both findings from the boater survey), it is logical to posit that a substantial percentage of boaters have had less satisfaction, which can lead to less participation over time.
2. Provide a baseline assessment of the adequacy and availability of obstacles and challenges to and priorities for boating access against which future access improvements can be measured. Regarding the second objective, the results of the boater survey serve as a baseline against which future survey results can be compared. The survey included questions about various problems and challenges with access. Strategies to alleviate particular problems should change the percentage of boaters experiencing that problem. The results presented throughout the report then serve as the baseline against which future efforts can be assessed.
3. Develop recommendations and strategies for improving access that addresses key access-related factors limiting participation among boaters, anglers, and other outdoor recreationists. The third objective of the study seeks recommendations and strategies for improving access. While there are no blanket solutions--even in a utopian scenario where every state and locality could devote more funds to access, there could still be problems-the results suggest where efforts can best be spent. The results include lists of potential problems that are ranked in severity. Also included in the report are lists of possible amenities, ranked by their importance and the percentage of boaters who say there are not enough. Indeed, these results, and others, can help guide strategies for improving access. However, as noted above, there is no single strategy for improving access, as efforts would need to be tailored to an area's particular problems, and this leads us directly to the fourth objective of the study: creating assessment tools for localities to use to assess access and to assess what problems are the most severe in that locality.
4. Design an assessment tool (such as a survey) to evaluate boating access that can be replicated and has universal application but is adaptable in scope and provides strategic guidance for actions by federal, state, and local agencies and NGOs. (e.g., SOBA, RBFF, etc.); The assessment tool was provided in the survey report appendix and can be administered by paper or telephone.
