It was estimated (Table 9) that 2.5 million tourists visited Mobile, 

 Baldwin, and Escambia Counties in 1970 and that the number was likely 

 to increase 76% to 4.4 million in 1980 (South Alabama Regional Planning 

 Commission and J. H. Friend, Inc. 1971, Gulf Research Associates 1981). 



Although the Parks Division of the Alabama Department of Conservation and 

 Natural Resources (1981) estimated that 3.4 million tourists visited Gulf 

 State Park in 1978 and 3.2 million in 1979, these estimates may be high. 

 Traffic volume analysis on the major highways in the Gulf Shores area by Gulf 

 Research Associates showed a total of approximately 2.0 million recreational 

 visitors per year (Friend et al . 1981). 



Table 10 shows the annual vehicle flow on the major highways leading to 

 two intensively used recreational beaches, Dauphin Island and the Gulf Shores 

 area. Traffic increased by approximately 75% to 200% in these areas between 

 1965 and 1979. The increase in recreational visitors before Hurricane 

 Frederic in 1979 is shown in Table 11. Hurricane Frederic interrupted the 

 expansion of the tourist trade by disrupting the aesthetics of the coast, 

 destroying many tourist facilities and, more directly, destroying the 

 causeway connecting Dauphin Island to the mainland. Although a ferry carried 

 some tourists to the island, tourist flow was hampered until July 1982, when 

 the causeway was reopened. 



CHARTER BOAT AND HEAD BOAT SERVICE 



Although the commercial fishing industry of the United States has become 

 relatively less economically important worldwide, the sport fishing industry 

 has increased in volume of catch to the point where the sport catch exceeds 

 the commercial catch for some species. In Alabama, the saltwater sport fish 

 landings in 1975 were only 53% of the commercial landings in total weight, 

 although the sport landings exceeded the commercial landings for 15 species 

 (Wade 1977). In response to the increasing demand for sport fishing oppor- 

 tunities, the number of facilities for charter boats and head boats has been 

 increasing in Alabama (Chermock 1974). The charter boat-head boat industry 

 in Alabama was estimated by Swingle (1970) to have provided 39,480 fishing 

 trips at a cost of $730,350 in 1969. 



Charter boats generally involve small groups of people (6 to 8), and 

 troll for larger game fish, such as Spanish mackerel ( Scomberomorus 

 maculatus ), king mackerel ( Scomberomorus ca valla ), and crevalle jack ( Caranx 

 hippos ) .~ Head boats carry large numbers of people and fish off the bottom, 

 rather than troll. The head or party boats carrying a larger group of people 

 take advantage of the concentrations of fish on artificial fishing reefs, 

 where the main catch is amberjack ( Seriola dumerili ) and red snapper 

 ( Lutjanus campechanus ) (Chermock 1974, Friend et al . 1981). Table 12 shows 

 the composition of catch from charter boats out of Orange Beach (Pensacola 

 quadrangle) . 



There are approximately 27 charter and head boat operations in Alabama 

 waters. The general locations of facilities/boats are shown in Table 13. 

 About 17 of the charter and head boats are now located in Baldwin County, 

 while 10 are in Mobile County. The largest concentration is at Orange Beach, 



48 



