Study Shows Economic Impacts of Recreational Boating Along the AIWW

The first phase of the NCBIWA/SeaGrant/DENR two-year study titled Economic Impacts and Economic Benefits of Recreational Boating along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AIWW) in North Carolina has been completed and the results have been released. In a nutshell the study shows that the benefits created by recreational boats using the AIWW are significant, that they are both national and local in scope and that even within the local benefits, those are spread over the whole state and not just the coastal counties.

Approximately 75% of benefits are federal, 25% state and local. Federal return on investment: $26 per $1 spent; state & local: $29 per $1 spent. Items of note:

• In February 2003, 355,453 boats were registered in North Carolina. Of these registered, 144,135 were less than 16 feet. Of the 211,318 boats with length greater than or equal to 16 feet almost all (203,953) have zip codes with the range of the boaters in the AIWW survey sample.
• The estimated statewide annual economic impacts of reduced AIWW navigability due to reductions in the numbers of boater trips are losses of $103 million in economic output, 1,623 jobs and $50 million in wages and salaries, $14 million in Federal tax revenues and $8.6 million in state and local tax revenues.
• Under reduced AIWW navigability conditions, the number of AIWW recreational boating trips taken per year by NC resident boaters is estimated to fall by 45 percent, and the number of trips made by non-NC resident boaters is estimated to fall by 30 percent. The full report on the study and results can be found online at ncbiwa.org/AIWWstudy.pdf

From the NCBIWAY Quarterly Newsletter, Vol. 2, No. 3

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