Table 3.30. Man-days of hunting and recreation per year for coastal Louisiana. 



^Table 25, app. D, Fish and Wildlife Study (U.S. Army Engineers unpublished). 



1968 population of 26 Louisiana coastal parishes = 2,104,800. 

 ''Table 42, app. D, Fish and Wildlife Study (U.S. Army Engineers unpublished). 



Seven southwest parishes and one-half the population of St. Mary Parish = 477,861. 



Birdwatching, photography, etc. 



The wildlife-oriented recreational use has an esti- 

 mated value of over $13 million in the Chenier Plain 

 basins (table 3.31). The man-days were calculated by 

 multiplying the population by the man-days/man/yr 

 value for southwestern Louisiana. The dollar values 

 were calculated from values for different kinds of 

 wildlife recreation prepared by the U.S. Water Re- 

 sources Council (1973). The values range from $2 to 

 $9/man-day, which appear to be conservative. The 

 figures for each basin represent the expected use-level 

 based on the resident population and on the adjacent 

 parish (county) populations, and they have no relation 

 to the relative availability of suitable habitat for wild- 

 Ufe within each basin. Therefore, one might expect 

 considerable lateral movement of hunters across basin 

 lines to locate optimum habitats. Thus, the total esti- 

 mate of 2.5 million man-days of hunting/yr for the 

 entire Chenier Plain may have more significance than 

 the figures for individual basins. 



Sportfishing and SheUfishing: The expected sport- 

 fishing demand amounted to 10.8 million man-days 

 for the entire Louisiana coastal zone and 2.0 million 

 man-days for the southwestern portion of the State 

 (table 3.32). Sportfishing demand was about 4 man- 

 days/man/yr for southwestern Louisiana, compared 



to an annual demand of 5 man-days/man/yr for the 

 entire State. The saltwater sportfishing demand can 

 be compared to the 305,600 man-days of fishing esti- 

 mated from a recent saltwater creel census in Sabine 

 Lake (Breuer et al. 1978). Ninety-five percent of the 

 fishing parties using Sabine Lake came from Jefferson 

 and Orange counties, which had a 1970 population of 

 315,943. The estimated 0.96 man-days/man/yr for 

 tliese counties agrees closely with the 1.0 value for 

 southwestern Louisiana (table 3.32). 



The sportfishing demand in the Chenier Plain 

 basins was calculated by using the sportfishing demand 

 values for southwestern Louisiana. The method was 

 the same as that used to calculate hunting demand. 

 There was an estimated total annual demand of 3.8 

 milhon man-days for all types of sportfishing (table 

 3.33). Nearly one -half of this is for fresliwater fishing; 

 most of the rest is for saltwater angling. The total 

 value of this demand is conservatively estimated at 

 about $7.7 million. The combined demand value for 

 fishing and hunting is estimated to be about 6.4 mil- 

 lion man-days and $21 million. 



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