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Economist Don Reading remembers seeing salmon anglers crowded up and down the Salmon River in the 1950s, holding up their huge catch.
"As a preteen boy, my mouth would hang open," said Reading, an economist with Ben Johnson Associates, at a Capitol press conference Tuesday.
If Idaho were to return to the year-in, year-out salmon and steelhead fishing seasons throughout their range it had until the late 1960s, the state would see an additional $544 million in economic activity annually, Reading said. Most of the money — $330 million — would go to rural river communities like Salmon, where fishermen would hire guides, stay in hotels, eat in restaurants and buy equipment.
But businesses elsewhere in Idaho would see $214 million annually in jet boat manufacturing and sales, travel agencies, sporting good sales and general business activity.
"The bottom line is fish are worth money," Reading said.
This is the fourth study Reading has done examining the impact of salmon and steelhead fishing on Idaho's economy and the first sponsored by Idaho Rivers United, a salmon advocacy group that supports breaching dams in Washington to help endangered salmon.
However, the local officials who endorsed the study during the news conference said they do not support breaching.
Still, Reading's study bridged the clash of values between salmon advocates and resource communities by showing mutual benefits.
"This is really a values issue for the people of Stanley and the Sawtooth Valley," said Steve Barnard, a Stanley city councilman.
"The people of Stanley have a connection to the salmon."
Davis said communities should work together to preserve their customs and cultures, including mining, ranching logging and fishing.
"I think what's important now is that we work together, as communities, as a state, as a region, and figure out how to get the job of salmon recovery done," Davis said.
"This is not an opportunity we should let pass by."
Reading is one of four economists who help the state make its tax revenue estimates, looking at receipts from fishing and other outdoor businesses.
What sets this study apart from his earlier work is it examines how the economy would be affected if historic numbers of salmon returned and fishing was allowed nearly year-round on more than 1,000 miles of salmon streams, as it was during the 1950s and the 1960s.
"Once the fisheries become sustained, people can depend on it and make investments in infrastructure," Reading said.
"Travel agents could plan on it year after year like they do now in Alaska."
Fishermen would spend $196 million annually, Reading estimates, generating more income than the state's aquaculture (fish farming) business.
Some communities are already reaping the benefits because salmon numbers have risen since 1997.
Riggins businesses collected more than $10 million in six weeks of salmon fishing last year, said Mayor Bob Zimmerman.
"Good fishing seasons can determine whether or not some of our businesses end the year in the black or in the red," Zimmerman said.
Reading estimate Riggins could bring in $35.7 million annually with a fully restored salmon season.
While Riggins has benefited, communities like Salmon, Challis and Stanley have not seen a salmon fishing season since 1978. The study predicts Salmon would get $40.4 million annually, Challis, $26.8 million and Stanley $14.2 million.
Salmon Mayor Stan Davis said that some people in his community think Reading's numbers are high.
"But even if you cut these numbers in half, restored salmon fishing would be a great benefit to our communities," Davis said.
Idaho Rivers United and a majority of fisheries biologists throughout the Pacific Northwest say the only way to restore fishing seasons to historic levels is to breach four federal dams on the Snake River in Washington.
But Davis and other central Idaho local government leaders participating in Tuesday's news conference made it clear they don't share that view.
"It is essential to point out that Lemhi County's endorsement of this study means only that we believe a salmon fishing season would benefit the economy of central Idaho," said Bob Cope, a Lemhi County commissioner.
"It does not mean that we should curtail mining, logging, grazing or farming to enhance fishing.
"It does not mean we advocate breaching of downstream dams," he said.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050209/NEWS06/502090337
"As a preteen boy, my mouth would hang open," said Reading, an economist with Ben Johnson Associates, at a Capitol press conference Tuesday.
If Idaho were to return to the year-in, year-out salmon and steelhead fishing seasons throughout their range it had until the late 1960s, the state would see an additional $544 million in economic activity annually, Reading said. Most of the money — $330 million — would go to rural river communities like Salmon, where fishermen would hire guides, stay in hotels, eat in restaurants and buy equipment.
But businesses elsewhere in Idaho would see $214 million annually in jet boat manufacturing and sales, travel agencies, sporting good sales and general business activity.
"The bottom line is fish are worth money," Reading said.
This is the fourth study Reading has done examining the impact of salmon and steelhead fishing on Idaho's economy and the first sponsored by Idaho Rivers United, a salmon advocacy group that supports breaching dams in Washington to help endangered salmon.
However, the local officials who endorsed the study during the news conference said they do not support breaching.
Still, Reading's study bridged the clash of values between salmon advocates and resource communities by showing mutual benefits.
"This is really a values issue for the people of Stanley and the Sawtooth Valley," said Steve Barnard, a Stanley city councilman.
"The people of Stanley have a connection to the salmon."
Davis said communities should work together to preserve their customs and cultures, including mining, ranching logging and fishing.
"I think what's important now is that we work together, as communities, as a state, as a region, and figure out how to get the job of salmon recovery done," Davis said.
"This is not an opportunity we should let pass by."
Reading is one of four economists who help the state make its tax revenue estimates, looking at receipts from fishing and other outdoor businesses.
What sets this study apart from his earlier work is it examines how the economy would be affected if historic numbers of salmon returned and fishing was allowed nearly year-round on more than 1,000 miles of salmon streams, as it was during the 1950s and the 1960s.
"Once the fisheries become sustained, people can depend on it and make investments in infrastructure," Reading said.
"Travel agents could plan on it year after year like they do now in Alaska."
Fishermen would spend $196 million annually, Reading estimates, generating more income than the state's aquaculture (fish farming) business.
Some communities are already reaping the benefits because salmon numbers have risen since 1997.
Riggins businesses collected more than $10 million in six weeks of salmon fishing last year, said Mayor Bob Zimmerman.
"Good fishing seasons can determine whether or not some of our businesses end the year in the black or in the red," Zimmerman said.
Reading estimate Riggins could bring in $35.7 million annually with a fully restored salmon season.
While Riggins has benefited, communities like Salmon, Challis and Stanley have not seen a salmon fishing season since 1978. The study predicts Salmon would get $40.4 million annually, Challis, $26.8 million and Stanley $14.2 million.
Salmon Mayor Stan Davis said that some people in his community think Reading's numbers are high.
"But even if you cut these numbers in half, restored salmon fishing would be a great benefit to our communities," Davis said.
Idaho Rivers United and a majority of fisheries biologists throughout the Pacific Northwest say the only way to restore fishing seasons to historic levels is to breach four federal dams on the Snake River in Washington.
But Davis and other central Idaho local government leaders participating in Tuesday's news conference made it clear they don't share that view.
"It is essential to point out that Lemhi County's endorsement of this study means only that we believe a salmon fishing season would benefit the economy of central Idaho," said Bob Cope, a Lemhi County commissioner.
"It does not mean that we should curtail mining, logging, grazing or farming to enhance fishing.
"It does not mean we advocate breaching of downstream dams," he said.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050209/NEWS06/502090337
