Sportsmen, and women, mean big business in Sunshine State
Florida Hunters and anglers spend $4.8 billion annually
betsyCLAYTON boatingbybetsy@yahoo.com

Whether you're out shooting with a gun or a camera, you have an impact on Florida's economy.

Two recently released reports show the spending power of outdoors types.

What's ironic is that both the hookand bullet crowd and the passive wildlifewatching crowd have similar abilities to make cash registers go cha-ching, even though their goals when they hit the woods and water are completely different.

Or are they?

Together, they are getting out there to enjoy nature.

If you hate hunters or only advocate catch-and-release fishing, that's OK. The hunters and keeper-anglers I know respect the creatures they take home to eat, and they appreciate the environment in which the creatures roam.

If you hate the leave-no-trace types who only take binoculars and cameras when they venture out, that's OK, too. The passive wildlife watchers I know cultivate an appreciation of the environment, flora and fauna that they can share with others or enjoy alone.

But back to that money thing.

Within 24 hours of each other, two different reports were released last week that harbored some cool statistics. Cool be because they show whether you're a hunt

er gatherer or otherwise, if you get out there, you count. Not bad news in today's uncertain economic times.

From the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation and the National Assembly of Sportsmen's Caucuses came a report that showed:

• Sportsmen - their word, not mine - support more jobs in Florida than Disney World (85,000 jobs vs. 61,000).

• Annual spending by Florida sportsmen is more than twice the annual revenue of Miami-based Burger King ($4.8 billion vs. $2.05 billion).

• Annual spending by Florida anglers is more than three times greater than the cash receipts from the state's orange crop ($4.4 billion vs. $1.2 billion).

From the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, using information from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the U.S. Census Bureau, came a longawaited report that showed:

• A quarter of a million tourists with wildlife-watching plans travel to Florida each year, making Florida the No. 1 destination in the country for wildlife viewing.

• Wildlife viewers at or near their Florida homes plus the tourists resulted in more than $3 billion in total economic impact throughout Florida in 2006. Retail sales of wildlife-viewing activities have almost doubled from $1.6 billion in 2001.

• More than 4.2 million people participated in some form of wildlife viewing in Florida in 2006.

So what does all this mean?

Call me simple, but I'd say whether you shoot things with bullets or just nab the things' photos on camera, you enjoy being outdoors. Either activity results in connectivity among families and friends, and the shooting apparently is something that adds glue to a local and state economy, too. It's a compromise outdoors enthusiasts can accept.

- Betsy Clayton is a freelancer based on Pine Island and also is Lee County Parks & Recreation's waterways coordinator. Contact her at boatingbybetsy@yahoo. com.

By The Numbers

>>Billion dollars Florida hunters and anglers spend annually

>>Billion dollars Florida hunters and anglers annually spent just on boats with outboard engines

>>3.3 Million Floridians viewed wildlife at or near their homes in 2006

>>1.8 Billion dollars of retail sales related to wildlife viewing in Florida in 2006

Sources: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Congressional Sportstmen's Foundation and the National Assembly of Sportsmen's Caucuses