RBFF says data shows marketing program’s success

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation says that according to a recent data comparison, states participating in group’s Fishing License Marketing Program are seeing a higher than average increases in fishing license sales.

According to Southwick Associates, data recently collected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to be used in apportioning the Sport Fish Restoration funds indicate a nationwide 0.02 percent average increase in fishing license sales in 2009. When you look only at the 30 states participating in RBFF’s Fishing License Marketing Program in both 2008 and 2009, the data shows a 0.76 percent average increase.

“We are extremely pleased with this news,” RBFF President and CEO Frank Peterson said in a statement. “Even though a number of different factors contribute to overall license sales, the data comparison shows the states participating in our program are selling fishing licenses at a much higher rate than the national average. And that’s a good indicator.”

Launched in March 2008 with 30 state fish and wildlife agencies, RBFF’s Fishing License Marketing Program aims to recruit and retain lapsed anglers and generate awareness of the connection between fishing license sales and conservation efforts. Thirty-one states currently participate in the program. Each state agency receives marketing templates, guidance to implement an outreach campaign and advertising support from RBFF.

“Following a 15 year decline, fishing license sales in New Jersey have been on the rise each year since 2006 when we began a modest marketing and promotion campaign to increase fishing participation,” New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife Chief of Information and Education Jim Sciascia said. “The RBFF Direct Mail Marketing partnership was a welcome addition to our annually expanding marketing program and really helped us step-up our game. The research data, marketing tools, license sales data analysis, technical support and matching funds that came with the RBFF partnership surely contributed to our 2008 and 2009 license sales increases – our largest annual increases in nearly two decades.”

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