Economic potential of recreational fishing for sustainable development of coastal area

Abstract

The current economic crisis caused by both the coronavirus disease and the global prevention measures, will have significant negative impact on the tourism sector. Some of the negative consequences possibly can be averted by increasing return from tourism industry. One of the opportunities is to develop the recreational fishing tourism. Until now the economic potential of the recreational fishing for ensuring sustainable development of Kurzeme coastal area was not acknowledged. The aim of the research was to determine the residents and non-residents coastal recreational anglers at the Baltic Sea coast of Kurzeme region and their total expenses. Through use of primary data acquired in recreation fishing environment the demographic data and habitual data of resident and non-resident anglers were analysed and compared to those of different regions in the EU and Australia. The calculated result is EUR 4,558 698 and that underlines the assumption on the economic potential of recreational fishing in the Baltic Sea coast of Kurzeme Region.