Bill recognizes that the outdoor recreation industry is a significant economic driver
In a significant step forward for the outdoor recreation industry and the sportfishing community, yesterday, President Obama signed into law the Outdoor Recreation Jobs and Economic Impact Act of 2016. The bill, known as the Outdoor REC Act, passed the House of Representatives and the Senate in November.
This new piece of legislation requires the Department of Commerce, in collaboration with the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture, to assess and analyze the contributions of the outdoor recreation industry, including recreational fishing, to the United States economy. The legislation will help to ensure that sportfishing industry jobs and recreational fishing’s economic impact are accounted for as part of the gross domestic product (GDP).
“At a time when jobs and economic opportunity are high on everyone’s list, the Outdoor REC bill’s passage gives the outdoor recreation industry its own metric by which to quantify its impact on the nation’s economic activity,” said American Sportfishing Association (ASA) President and CEO Mike Nussman. “We have advocated for years that recreational fishing and boating were significant economic drivers. It’s gratifying that the House and the Senate, in a bi-partisan effort, passed this bill which the President has now signed it into law.”
Nussman continued, “It’s important to note that in many rural areas, where jobs are at a premium, it’s fishing, boating and other outdoor activities that provide steady employment for many people.”
The passage of the Outdoor REC Act was needed to make sure that the outdoor economy—and it’s estimated six million jobs and $646 billion in economic activity—receives official government recognition for years to come.
“ASA applauds Congress and the President for enacting this legislation, bringing the outdoor recreation industry’s importance to jobs and the economy into the national spotlight,” said ASA Government Affairs Vice President Scott Gudes. “We appreciate that outdoor recreation is now formally being recognized by the federal government for its impact on jobs, business and the economy.”
Gudes further said, “The Outdoor REC Act will also ensure that the outdoor industry’s economic statistics will be measured in the same comprehensive way as other business sectors, such as the automotive and apparel industries. This is important because industry economic impact estimates also include data that show the non-direct impact that the activity has on the economy. For example, it would also include sportfishing’s contributions to travel and tourism, not just the purchase of tackle.”
ASA is an active part of a team representing a wide-range of outdoor industries that will work with the Department of Commerce to shape how outdoor recreation is defined and ensure our reach and impact are recognized.
In his post-campaign remarks, President-elect Trump has voiced his support for maintaining fishing and hunting on our nation’s public lands.
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the statistics are already available. it seems to me it is more,big government.
Did they really name this the ORJEI (phonetic spelling of ‘orgy’) Act or is it just me that has a dirty mind? 🙂
I bet the government wants to quantify the economic impact of outdoor recreation because they know a lot of it is cash and they intend to tax the hell out of guides and everyone else in the industry.
This law helps recognize that “fishing communities” include you, me, the marina, tackle shop, dunkin, the gas station, etc., not just draggers and giant freezer ships
why do you guys have to whine every time something positive happens? could it be your attitude is just because your wife kicked you out of bed or your dog bit you?
Can’t make any accusations (good or bad) until you see what happens. I’d be willing to bet less of it is cash than you might think. Most people are probably only thinking about how THEY spend they’re money fishing but this will be nationwide
Not comfortable with anything the government does for the most part. It does appear that this will possibly give us a stronger voice. I am in if it somehow makes striped bass a more valuable asset and moves more closely to game fish status. Close SW ledge !
Who cares? Where is the bite???
This is good, it helps push back against a commercial fishing lobby that has a near-sighted self interest in overfishing, and commercial polluters who’d rather not bother with proper disposal of every manner of toxic waste, fertilizer or run off. The #1 way to represent OUR interests as recreational fisherman in this fight over a slice of the pie is by being able to argue it as a pocket book issue.
Recreational fishing is an important industry that people depend on for their livelihood and we need “the government” to regulate and enforce laws and regulations necessary to manage fish stocks and enforce environmental regulation – that doesn’t mean “over-enforce” and it doesn’t mean “gut the EPA”.
“In his post-campaign remarks, President-elect Trump has voiced his support for maintaining fishing and hunting on our nation’s public lands.” – Support for public access for fishing and hunting is meaningless in the context of this article, which is really about economic clout of rec fishing.
Trump’s picks to the EPA and Interior suggest reversals on environmental regulation and checks on industrial extraction of every kind including fish stocks. How is that good for rec fishermen?
Trumps picks to EPA and Interior (among other posts) show the real direction we’ll be heading. Anything he may have said is just fluff. If you want to see where things are really headed environment wise (fishing/hunting in this case) just look at where the rubber meets the road – cabinet picks.
I didn’t realize this but Rep. Zinke, who is Trump’s pick to lead Interior, was a co-sponsor of the bill above, so that’s at least encouraging even though he’ll likely open up the outer banks to drilling. (The EPA pick is utterly depressing, as in the fox guarding the henhouse.)
Here’s more background on that bill and what it means for rec fishermen and hunters, etc:
http://www.joincca.org/articles/827
When are U folks going to wake up. It is the Corporations and the wealthiest who are run the show in D.C. GE and the oil, coal and gas lobbies get huge tax subsidies along with the corporations that leave the US for non union, cheap labor jobs and consequently thanks to phonies like Bill Clinton they come under the labor of Nafta & Gatt trade deals that killed the middle class.
and we can expect more of the same money driven bullshit…Exxon, Goldman Sachs – they’re all well represented in the days to come.. we were promised something different but nothing will change…. talk about the fox guarding the hen house….