Economic impact analyses can be conducted for (1) boats registered in Florida counties or regions, (2) boats stored in Florida marinas, and (3) boats that utilize access/launch sites.

(1) Economic Impact of Registered Boats in Florida Counties and Regions

This model estimates the economic impacts of power and sail boats registered in different counties and regions of Florida. This may include boats kept at marinas, at permanent and second waterfront homes, and boats that are usually trailered to boating access/launch sites. The results include: number of registered power and sail boats of various lengths, boating days, spending on boating trips (restaurants, lodging, auto and boat fuel), craft-related spending (e.g., storage, repairs, accessories), and the direct and secondary effects including sales, jobs, income and value added.

(2) Marina Economic Impacts

This model allows users to estimate the economic impacts associated with boats stored in Florida marinas. This includes boats kept in seasonal slips and moorings, dry stack storage, and those that rent transient slips. This model produces estimates of boating days by the boats stored in a marina, trip and craft spending by the owners of the marina boats, and the associated direct and indirect economic impacts.

(3) Boat access/launch sites

Choose this option to estimate the economic impacts of boating trips on which boats are trailered to launch sites. This is limited to power boats because they are the predominate type of boats launched from access/launch sites. The model produces information including the average spending per launch, total annual trip spending by boaters who launch at a site, and the economic impacts of this annual trip spending.


The online models were developed by Drs. Ed Mahoney (mahoneye@msu.edu), Dan Stynes (stynes@msu.edu), and Yue Cui (cuiyue@msu.edu), Recreational Marine Research Center, Michigan State University with the considerable assistance of Dr. David Harding (david.harding@MyFWC.com), Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. If you have any questions concerning the model please contact us.