Transition of leisure fishing in Japan inferred from the White Paper on Leisure

Abstract

The transition of leisure fishing in Japan from the mid 1980s was analyzed based on the White Paper on Leisure. The data showed that the participation rate (rate of individuals participating in fishing ), the number of participants (number of individuals participating in fishing) , and the rate of individuals wanting to participate in fishing decreased annually from around 1998. However, the rank of fishing by number of participants in sports leisure activities and the potential participation demand (=[rate of individuals wanting to participate ]-[participation rate]) in all leisure activities were reasonably high though the annual average number of participants decreased. Expenditure per participation increased: the annual total expenditure in around 2010 is about 500 billion yen. Taken together, the results show that leisure fishing was one of the most important leisure activities in Japan. Further study is needed on measures for promoting leisure fishing based on an analysis of the transition and state of leisure fishing for each fish species or species groups for which the fishing methods are similar.