TACKLE-ON-LOAN COULD BE BOON TO FISHING.

Byline: Jim Matthews Special to the Daily News

Fishermen have a message for America: The increase in crime and divorce, the apparent decline in environmental awareness and floundering segments of the economy can be traced to the simple fact that Americans aren't fishing as much as they once did.

The anglers have some data to argue their case, and they say the solution to the problem is simple: Go fishing. They'll even loan you the tackle so you can give it a try.

The Sportfishing Promotion Council (SPC), the marketing arm of the American Sportfishing Association (ASA), a group made up of virtually all of the country's manufacturers of fishing tackle, has been looking at ways of stemming the decline in angler numbers.

Its fledgling Fishing Tackle Loaner Program (FTLP) began in 1993 with a single site at the public library in Kent, Ohio. By the end of the year there will be at least 96 sites in 18 states.

According to data prepared for the ASA, the number of fishermen in the United States has declined at about 1.5 percent per year, dropping from 62.4 million anglers in 1990 to 58.7 million in 1994. The Department of Fish and Game estimates that the number of anglers in the state is 1.45 million - down from a 1981 high of nearly 2.3 million.

The grim numbers served a wake-up call to a fishing industry that saw its market decline. They also caught the attention of state and federal fishery managers, whose budgets depend in large part on fishing-license sales and excise taxes collected on fishing gear.

Preliminary data from the SPC's loaner program suggest it has potential to increase participation. A survey conducted among those who borrowed gear in Utah provided some encouraging data. Of those checking out tackle - usually parents with children - 43 percent had never fished before. Based on the Utah numbers, the SPC is projecting that the project will loan out rods and reels to nearly 63,000 people this year. The impact that will have on the industry is to ``create'' 13,500 new fishermen.

``This program has the potential to have the greatest impact on fishing since God invented water,'' said Joe Kuti, vice-president of the ASA and head of the SPC.

Each new fisherman is a windfall for the fishing industry and the state and federal fishery programs. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, each angler spends approximately $105 annually on fishing tackle alone. The loaner program, in effect, will create $1.4 million in new tackle sales in 1996 and each year thereafter.

Kuti believes the potential of the program goes well beyond the current sites. There are more than 22,000 public libraries and parks and recreation centers nationwide that could be loaning out tackle provided by the SPC and tackle companies. Add in the sporting goods stores and on-water marinas and you have a huge number of locations where loaner tackle could be available, said Kuti.

``Even if we could just get 10 percent of these places, it would have a significant impact on the number of anglers entering the sport, and our survey data suggests it would have a positive impact socially,'' said Kuti.

For more information on the free tackle loaner programs, write to: Sportfishing Promotion Council, 1033 N. Fairfax St., Suite 200, Alexandria, VA, 22314, or call [phone].