Fisheries and Wildlife 1972) showed that 9,460,000 salt- 
water fishermen on all coasts spent $1,224,705,000 for 
113,694,000 recreational days. From those data, an aver- 
age of $129 during the entire year or $10.77 each recrea- 
tional day was calculated to have been spent by each 
saltwater fisherman. On the gulf coast each of 2,272,000 
fishermen spent an average of $178 during the entire 
year, or $11.36 per recreational day. 
In a 1974 survey of Florida’s coastal counties, Fred W. 
Bell (pers. commun.) found that the expenditures relat- 
ing to a recreational angling day averaged $21.32. An ex- 
penditure of $18.97 per angling day was used in this 
study to estimate the expenditures of recreational 
anglers in St. Andrew Bay system and adjacent waters. 
That figure was derived by reducing $21.32 by 11% to ac- 
count for the inflationary rate during the period 1973-74. 
The term “recreational fishermen” as used by the 
reference sources above applied to recreational anglers 
only. The term “angler” as currently used refers only to 
fishermen who use a hook-and-line to take finfish. 
Therefore, the average expenditure of $18.97 for an angl- 
ing day applies only to recreational angling for finfish 
and not to other methods of finfish fishing or to other 
fisheries. The estimates of anglers and expenditures 
presented in this section, then, are based on numbers of 
finfish fishermen identified as fishing with hook-and-line 
only. 
The estimated annual number of daytime anglers in 
St. Andrew Bay and adjacent coastal waters in 1973 and 
their expenditures are summarized in Table 5 by area 
and angling platform. 
The number of daytime anglers in all areas and on all 
platforms was estimated to range from a minimum of 
208,400 to a maximum of 303,200 and the expenditures 
from a minimum of $4.2 million to a maximum of $6.1 
million. The estimates include only those anglers that 
fished from 0800 to 1630 h. Excluded were an approxi- 
mately equal number of individuals that were classified 
as occupants of transit boats, the majority of whom were 
enroute to or returning to finfish fishing grounds. 
Crab Fishing Effort 
Recreational crab fishing was second in importance to 
finfish fishing in the St. Andrew Bay system and ad- 
jacent coastal waters, composing 3.7% of the recreational 
fishing effort. Most crab fishing effort was limited to 
summer months when the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, 
was available in shallow water. A small winter fishery for 
the blue crab was observed in West Bay, subarea 25. The 
water in that subarea, warmed by the effluent from an 
electric generating plant, provided a suitable shallow- 
water habitat for the crabs in the winter months. The 
crab was sought primarily for its food value. 
The fiddler crab, Uca sp., was observed to be har- 
vested by an occasional recreational angler. The crabs 
are used locally as bait for catching sheepshead, Archo- 
sargus probatocephalus, and black drum, Pogonias 
cromis. 
The estimated recreational crab fishing effort is shown 
in Figure 6 for major areas, weekdays, and weekend-days 
each month in 1973. The estimates include both food and 
bait crab fishing from all platforms by all methods. 
Classification and assessment of fishermen and per- 
sons participating in the recreational crab fishery were 
particularly difficult for the surveyor, for it was not es- 
sential that all participants have fishing equipment in | 
possession. That is, fishermen may actively search for 
crabs by wading or boating in shallow water but do not 
participate in their capture. Frequently, several crab 
fishermen share a single dip net or crab trap. In areas 
where both crabs and scallops were found, the fishermen 
often engage in the two fisheries simultaneously. Baited 
traps and handlines usually require less than full atten- 
tion of fishermen. During periods of inactivity, the fisher- 
men may appear to the surveyor as observers. As a result, 
the number of fishermen may be underestimated or in 
some cases the effort incorrectly classified. 
Comparison of platforms and the estimated average 
daily instantaneous number of private boats used in the 
recreational crab fishery are shown in Figures 7 and 8. 
in hundreds) in St. 
ing platforms 
Total 
Anglers Dollars 
16,719.9 
11,208.2 
14,056.7 
