Hunting and fishing create more jobs in Michigan than any other Great Lakes state according to a new study.
The study, released by the Michigan United Conservation Clubs, found that 11.2 billion dollars are generated every year in the state through hunting and fishing.
Amy Trotter is the Executive Director of the group. She said the study also found the sporting industry creates or directly supports roughly 171-thousand jobs in Michigan.
“And because of that, we want to call on our state leaders to launch a bipartisan push in 2019 to protect and preserve these natural resources that we depend on.”
According to Trotter the 11.2 billion dollars of money generated by sporting in Michigan puts the industry within the top 10% in terms of economic impact in the state.
Dan Eichinger is the Director of Michigan’s DNR. He spoke during a press event for the study’s release.
“We’ve all understood the value of conserving our natural resources, conserving fresh water, and assuring the abundance of our fish and wildlife resources and now for the first time we’ll have a really keen and detailed understanding of how all those activities contribute to Michigan’s economy.”
Trotter said she’d like to see the state invest more money into cleaning up PFAs contamination, helping combat chronic wasting disease in state deer, and promoting sports in Michigan.
The study estimates are two times as high as previous estimates from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.