FISH, SPORT

In 1991, 425,025 recreational anglers fished the state's waters. 252,116 of these lived in Alaska and 172,909 came from other states and nations to fish here.

Anglers spent a total of 2,456,328 days of sport fishing in Alaska and caught 5.4 million fish and razor clams.

Seventy-three percent of Alaska sport fishing is done in the Southcentral region of the state where most of the state's population resides. Eighteen percent of sport fishing is in Southeast, and ten percent is in the Interior area.

The 1991 season saw the smallest increase in numbers of anglers since a sport fish survey was begun in 1977. The number of resident anglers increased after 1990 by one percent, while the number of nonresident anglers declined by two percent, the first such decline since the survey began. Since 1981, however, the total number of anglers has increased seventy-one percent.