FAO, in its efforts to raise the levels of nutrition and standards of living of the people under its jurisdiction, to secure improvements in the efficiency of the production of food and to better the conditions of rural populations, has long recognized that the promotion of developmental activities connected with wildlife resources, outdoor recreation and national parks should continue receiving priority. Their importance to tourism is, in fact, proving to be a promising source of exchange earnings for many developing countries.
The very recent (September 1968) UNESCO Intergovernmental Conference of Experts on the Scientific Basis for the Rational Use and Conservation of the Resources of the Biosphere also noted that wildlife may contribute to human existence as a supplementary or major form of land use. The present large and spectacular wildlife populations in some developing countries play an important rôle in attracting tourists and substantially influencing the flow of foreign currency in those countries.
The European Inland Fisheries Advisory Commission (EIFAC), whose objectives are to promote improvement in inland fisheries and to advise Member Governments and FAO on inland fishery matters, has also realized that the systematic development of wildlife, particularly sport fishing, is instrumental in promoting economic development. For some countries, good sport fishing facilities are a great attraction to foreign tourists and sport fishing is, for them, becoming an important export industry. For others, the development of sport fishing in poorly industrialized areas with attractive fishing waters is bringing about a better distribution of income within the country. The development of sport fishing within a country may also bring about net benefit to the national economy, stimulating various ancillary industries, calling greater attention of the authorities to the necessity of controlling water pollution, without mentioning the important recreational and social benefits to the participating populations.
At its very First Session (Dublin, 1960) EIFAC Member Countries, aware of the economic and social values of sport fishing, selected the subject “Appraisal of the economic and recreational values of angling and its development” as a field of wide interest and study. While the subject was discussed at the Second (Paris, 1962) and Third (Scharfling am Mondsee, 1964) Sessions and some documentation prepared - notably, a partial bibliography on the economic evaluation of sport fishing and fisheries resources (FAO Fish.Circ. (8) (Rev.1):20 p., by Wm.A. Dill, 1964) - it was not until the Fourth Session of EIFAC (Belgrade, 1966) that the economic evaluation of sport fishing was discussed seriously. At that Session, Dr. Ingemar Norling, University Reader at the Graduate School of Social Work and Public Administration, Gothenburg, Sweden, was appointed rapporteur for questions dealing with sport fisheries in both their economic and social aspects.
With the assistance of the EIFAC Secretariat, Dr. Norling undertook a world review of the literature, research and field work on the economic evaluation of sport fishing. His report, which he presented at the Fifth Session of EIFAC (Rome, 1968) received the immediate approval of the Commission which recommended that it be published in both languages of the Commission - English and French - in the EIFAC Technical Paper series and be widely diffused.
