Interior Secretary Sally Jewell casts for young converts in fishing expedition

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell distributed night crawlers Monday morning among a group of excited Washington middle school students; many had never been fishing before. Some baited their hooks skittishly, while others couldn’t get their lines in the water fast enough. Jewell was celebrating National Fishing and Boating Week, highlighting conservation and outdoor recreation by going fishing with more than 200 students from the surrounding metro area on Washington’s Anacostia River. Fishing is growing in popularity in the United States. In 2011, 33.1 million people went fishing, an increase of 3.1 million people from the previous survey in 2006, according to the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife Associated Recreation conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Fishing accounted for $41.8 billion in outdoors expenditures in 2011, according to the survey. Even so, Jewell said, many youths haven’t experienced much time in nature...more