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Climate change is expected to influence aquatic habitats and associated fish populations, yet we know little about the impact on recreational anglers. Our goal was to explore whether interannual fluctuations in waterbody surface area and other explanatory variables could be used as indicators of changes in angler fishing effort. Our approach leveraged a combination of remotely sensed waterbody surface area, environmental and fish population data, and onsite angler survey monitoring data for Devils Lake, North Dakota, USA during the open-water fishing period (May 1st to August 31st) for 9 years (1992–2021). The information was used to develop a dynamic waterbody size-angler effort model. Changes in waterbody surface area reliably predicted changes in angler effort (r2 = 0.60). Increases in waterbody surface area led to increases in angler effort, and decreases in waterbody surface area led to decreases in angler effort. Our findings show promise that remotely sensed fluctuations in waterbody surface area could be used as an indicator of interannual angler effort dynamics. Dynamic waterbody size-angler effort models could provide managers the ability to predict changes in angler effort via climate-related hydrological cycles that affect the size and distribution of waterbodies on the landscape. • Resource size-use models could explain dynamic social-ecological systems. • Changes in waterbody surface area explained variation in recreational angler effort. • Monitoring resource size changes could signal a social response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IntroductionShore-based shark fishing in Florida is a relatively low-cost and easy-access fishery which attracts a wide variety of experienced and inexperienced anglers leading to concerns about proper handling methods of captured fish that are released either voluntarily or to comply with regulations. Proper handling methods can help reduce post-release mortality among sharks, many of which are threatened with extinction. Therefore, we considered proper handling methods as a pro-environmental behavior, which has been linked with the use of different information channels to increase conservation knowledge.MethodsWe used data from an online questionnaire to understand where anglers of this fishery obtain information about fishing skills with a particular focus on fish handling techniques and best practices for catch-and-release. Then we included their main information channels in a series of hierarchical regression models with perceived conservation knowledge and support for fishery management to explain pro-environmental behavior regarding shark conservation.ResultsWe found that most anglers learned about shore-based shark fishing through interpersonal communications with friends and family, but typically use the internet to learn more about fishing skills. While information channel use was not significantly associated with pro-environmental behavior, it was significantly associated with support for fisheries management, which in turn was associated with pro-environmental behavior among respondents.DiscussionThese findings can inform public educational outreach efforts to spread awareness of proper handling techniques and reduce instances of post-release mortality in sharks.

In 2020, the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic disrupted individual and social behaviors and norms, including outdoor activities. A recreational angling survey of 18,000 licensed anglers from 10 states (AR, CT, FL, IA, MO, NC, SC, TX, UT, WY) was conducted in summer 2020 to characterize recreational fishing trends during the first few months of the pandemic. The study presented here builds off this survey by combining the survey data with county-level human population density and spring 2020 per capita COVID-19 cases to understand how anglers responded to the pandemic along the urban-to-rural continuum. Specifically, we wanted to know if population density or COVID-19 cases per capita influenced angler-reported 1) changes in license sales, 2) number of fishing trips, and 3) motivation for fishing. Overall results suggest that per capita COVID-19 cases were more influential in driving angler behavior than population density in the early pandemic (01 March 2020–31 May 2020). At the onset of the pandemic, high COVID-19 case counts were associated with an uptick in recreational angling activity. In counties with greater COVID-19 case counts, there was greater angler recruitment (i.e., attraction of new individuals to recreational fishing) and earlier license purchases. Anglers aged ≥40 years and earning ≥$50,000 living in areas of greater per capita COVID-19 cases also went on more fishing trips than they typically would. Angler motivations varied across gradients of population density and per capita COVID-19 cases: anglers living in areas of higher population densities were more likely to report fishing for stress relief, sport, and competition among friends , and anglers living in areas of higher per capita COVID-19 cases were more likely to report fishing for sport and because they had free time and less likely to report fishing for food. Management efforts can focus on retaining and reactivating pandemic anglers. • Recreational angling trips and license sales increased during the early pandemic. • Increases in angling activity were more likely in areas of higher case counts. • Increased fishing trips were limited to anglers of higher age and income groups. • Angler motivations varied along the urban-to-rural gradient. • The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic impacted angler motivations during spring of 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recreational fishing is a popular pastime and multibillion dollar industry in Australia, playing a key economic role, especially in regional areas. In the State of Victoria, Port Phillip Bay (PPB), bordered by Melbourne and its suburbs, is the largest of the State’s marine recreational fisheries. At present, little is known about the spatial and temporal dimensions of angler travel from origins to destinations, and the applicability of such spatial knowledge in fisheries management. To address this lack of information we assessed spatiotemporal dynamics and patterns in fishing trips, based upon travel distances on land and water, to acquire insight into the spatial ranges over which anglers residing in various locations travel to fishing destinations in the environs of PPB. Data for each angler per fishing trip, from 6,035 boat-based creel surveys, collected at 20 boat ramps in PPB during a 10-year period from 2010 to 2019, were analyzed by applying geospatial modeling. Differences were observed in both land and water travel distance by region and popular target species, with anglers who launched from Bellarine region traveling further on land, and those who targeted snapper traveling further on water. It was also evident that most anglers resided within close proximity of PPB, often less than 50 km, although some anglers traveled long distances across the State to access fishing locations, particularly when targeting snapper. This work further highlights the importance of spatially explicit approaches to inform fisheries management by identifying users across different landscape and seascape scales, and out-of-region or State fishing trips, which may especially impact coastal communities and benefit local businesses.

Recreational fisheries are complex adaptive systems that are inherently difficult to manage because of heterogeneous user groups (consumptive vs. nonconsumptive) that use patchily distributed resources on the landscape (lakes, rivers, coastlines). There is a need to identify which system components can effectively predict and be used to manage nonlinear and cross-scale dynamics within these systems. We examine how ecosystem size or water body size can be used to explain complicated and elusive angler-resource dynamics in recreational fisheries. Water body size determined angler behavior among 48 Nebraska, U.S.A. water bodies during an 11- year study. Angler behavior was often unique and nonlinear across water body sizes. For example, anglers spent more time fishing and harvested more fish at larger water bodies compared to smaller water bodies. Time fished increased across smaller water bodies, but reached a threshold at larger water bodies. The number of fish released increased as a function of water body size across smaller water bodies and then plateaued. Subtle changes in water body size caused abrupt changes in angler behavior, that is, water body size structures angler-resource dynamics in recreational fisheries. We believe that including water body size, a simple and easily measured metric, in fisheries management will increase effectiveness of cross-scale actions and minimize unintended consequences for recreational fisheries. Applying uniform management actions, e.g., harvest regulations, across small and large water bodies may elicit contrasting angler-resource responses. Water body size may also be useful for understanding angler typologies. Based on our findings, we expect that ecosystem size is a prominent and valuable system component that will determine and explain coupled user-resource dynamics in other complex adaptive systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recreational fisheries are complex adaptive systems that are inherently difficult to manage because of heterogeneous user groups (consumptive vs. nonconsumptive) that use patchily distributed resources on the landscape (lakes, rivers, coastlines). There is a need to identify which system components can effectively predict and be used to manage nonlinear and cross-scale dynamics within these systems. We examine how ecosystem size or water body size can be used to explain complicated and elusive angler-resource dynamics in recreational fisheries. Water body size determined angler behavior among 48 Nebraska, U.S.A. water bodies during an 11-year study. Angler behavior was often unique and nonlinear across water body sizes. For example, anglers spent more time fishing and harvested more fish at larger water bodies compared to smaller water bodies. Time fished increased across smaller water bodies, but reached a threshold at larger water bodies. The number of fish released increased as a function of water body size across smaller water bodies and then plateaued. Subtle changes in water body size caused abrupt changes in angler behavior, that is, water body size structures angler-resource dynamics in recreational fisheries. We believe that including water body size, a simple and easily measured metric, in fisheries management will increase effectiveness of cross-scale actions and minimize unintended consequences for recreational fisheries. Applying uniform management actions, e.g., harvest regulations, across small and large water bodies may elicit contrasting angler-resource responses. Water body size may also be useful for understanding angler typologies. Based on our findings, we expect that ecosystem size is a prominent and valuable system component that will determine and explain coupled user-resource dynamics in other complex adaptive systems.

Improved understanding of angling behavior in recreational fisheries can help managers account for partial controllability in systems in which angling effort is not directly regulated. Relevant aspects of angling behavior include fishing participation, site choice, and catch-and-release actions and can be considered at scales of both aggregate fishing effort and individual-decision-making. Using creel survey data collected across eight fishery seasons, we predicted aggregate angling effort (e.g., daily number of boating trips engaged in fishing) and characterized influences of individual trip-based site choice for recreational fisheries acting on fall-run Chinook salmon and coho salmon near the mouth of the Columbia River, United States of America. We applied an overdispersed Poisson likelihood-based generalized linear model with an autoregressive structure to aggregate boating effort and a multinomial logit model to trip-based site choice decisions among separate ocean and estuary fishing zones. Predictive models explained 71% and 79% of out-of-sample and in-sample variability in aggregate effort, respectively, and included the covariates weekend status, Chinook salmon catch rate, tidal range, and pre-season expectations of fish abundance. In addition to reinforcing the importance of Chinook salmon catch rate and tidal range, site choice model selection revealed influences of weather, fishery restrictions, expected fishery season lengths, and the individual-specific characteristics of boat length and guide status on decision-making. Model results provide predictive models for short-term fishery planning, highlight heterogeneity in individual decision-making, and illustrate the value of standardized creel data for evaluating angling behavior. • Historical creel survey data can improve understanding of angler dynamics in recreational fisheries. • Phenomenological models of angling effort in a Pacific salmon recreational fishery predicted effort trends using creel data. • Predictors of angling effort included weekend status, lagged catch rates, tidal range, and pre-season fishery expectations. • Mechanistic site choice models revealed both fishery- and individual-based influences on trip-specific decision-making. • Comparison of effort and site choice models revealed complex interactions of fishery attributes on angling behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on an application of choice experiment methods to anglers targeting blue marlin and other pelagic species in Hawaii. Data was collected through the Hawaii Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistical Survey in 2006. Based on 480 completed surveys, respondents were dominantly male (94.2%), Asian (51.6%), had relatively high incomes ($79,816), and 59.6% owned boats. Profit orientation included fishing for profit, expense fishing, Holoholo (purely recreational), Kaukau (subsistence fishing), and trophy fishing. Multinomial logit models were estimated and parameters on trip cost, marlin catch, ahi weight, the summer season, and a nonconsumptive attribute, seeing marlin, were all highly significant and of the expected sign. Part-worth willingness to pay (WTP) for catching a blue marlin was estimated at $521 for the charter group and $276 for those on private boat trips. Marginal value per pound for ahi is similar for both groups, $0.96/pound for charter and $0.92 for private boat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of live bait by anglers is an important vector of both aquatic and terrestrial invasive species. Bait-bucket introductions of invasive crayfishes, fishes, earthworms, pathogens, and other organisms have reduced biodiversity and altered ecosystem function and structure throughout the United States, including the Mid-Atlantic region. In 2008, we conducted a telephone survey of bait shops and a mail survey of anglers to obtain information on the trade and use of bait in Maryland, a US state with many introduced bait species. Our telephone survey of bait shops confirmed that this industry is a source of non-native and invasive species in Maryland. Our survey documented at least six non-native bait species for sale in the state. With the exception of a few locally collected bait species, bait sold in Maryland originated from sources outside of the state, and in some cases, outside the Mid-Atlantic region. Results of our angler survey indicated that 64% of Maryland freshwater anglers, both resident and non-resident, used live bait and that the release of unused live bait was quite common and occurred statewide. The release of unused bait by anglers varied with bait type. Anglers more readily released aquatic than terrestrial baits. For example, 65 and 69% of Maryland anglers using fishes and crayfishes released their unused bait; whereas only 18 and 10% of anglers released their unused earthworms and grubs-mealworms-maggots, respectively. Our surveys indicated that any non-native, potentially invasive species imported into the state via the bait industry is likely to be released by anglers into Maryland's aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Many of these species have the potential to become established in the state. These results illustrate the need for greater oversight of the bait industry, development of consistent regulations on bait use, and a region-wide education campaign aimed at changing anglers' behavior regarding bait use and its disposal. We recommend specific management actions that, if implemented, would greatly reduce further bait-bucket introductions and provide protection against invasive bait species in Maryland and the Mid-Atlantic region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Choice set definition can be viewed as a nesting issue. Although the behavioral basis for grouping sites into nests is not well understood, one reason for grouping alternatives into nests may be the likelihood that they are "in" or "out" of an individual's choice set. However, a problem with using nests to evaluate choice set issues is that the researcher typically needs to impose the same nesting structure on all individuals and trips. Such an approach assumes that the degree of correlation among the alternatives does not vary across the sample. This paper develops and tests a more flexible nesting structure that allows the parameters on the inclusive values to vary systematically based on the sample demographics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]