AUTHORS: Mike Beauchene, CT DEEP Fisheries Division
ABSTRACT. Quantification of the number of people who participated in fishing as a youth (under 16) or as an adult as part of a free fishing event is difficult to obtain. Using our licensing system we have created two free products, one for youth and the other for adults, where a lifetime conservation id is assigned as part of the user profile. This conservation ID provides us with the ability to see people who participated in one of these programs and then purchased a fishing license. While the initial numbers are relatively small during the first several years of the programs, the concept is sound and will provide useful information for future recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) efforts.
