We employ about 270 staff across the state including fisheries biologists and technicians, fish hatchery supervisors and technicians, disease specialists, aquatic habitat experts, water management specialists and water resources specialists. About 73 percent comes from fishing license sales and federal Sport Fish Restoration funds. The rest comes from state General Purpose Revenues, permit fees or federal water quality grants. Managing the state s fisheries isn t the only thing we do, but it is one of the most important and understanding how we do that will give you a good idea of how our program operates. We have over 1.4 million licensed sport anglers.
Fishing also is big business.
In 1996, sport anglers spent over 17 million days fishing in Wisconsin almost 4 million by non-residents. Commercial fisheries exist - primarily in the Great Lakes, but also in the Mississippi River and several other larger inland waters. The single most important element in a quality fishery and a healthy ecosystem - is habitat. Effective habitat protection and restoration is the most cost-effective fisheries management that we can do. After years of experimenting with management strategies, we have yet to find one that improves on a self-sustaining natural system existing in good habitat.