Because these anglers are stakeholders in fisheries and aquatic resources and support conservation of these resources, building and maintaining a strong angler constituency is important to maintaining and enhancing valuable fishery resources. Fishing derbies can be an important part of a fishery program and can achieve several significant goals. Fishing derbies are excellent family activities and are conducive to participation by the increasing number of single-parent families. It is important to get a child excited about fishing, but it is also important to get the parent or adult excited about fishing and about fishing as a family activity. Fishing opportunities greatly increase when a parent or an adult is interested in fishing and wants to take a child fishing.
Fishing derbies are a good way to attract attention to fishery resources and fishing opportunities.
With proper fish, habitat, and water quality management, once overlooked or unusable waters can provide excellent fishing opportunities within walking distance from home. A fishing derby not only announces these opportunities, but it attracts attention to the process that converted an unusable resource, or possibly even unhealthy and unsafe site, to a safe and enjoyable recreational resource. A fishing derby can be an educational event. Certainly, educational presentations must be short and simple, but several topics can be introduced for a few minutes each. When appropriate information is properly presented, a large number of people will take the message home.