Angling party persistence and visitation in a recreational Lake Trout fishery: Relative influence of travel distance and fuel costs.

Objective: Cormack–Joly–Seber (CJS) mark–recapture analysis was used to estimate the effect of travel distance and fuel costs on angling party persistence (i.e., survival = probability of remaining in the Lake Trout Salvelinus namaycush fishery from year‐to‐year) and visitation (i.e., detection = probability of detection at the access point) over a 14‐year period (2006–2019) for the Lake Trout recreational fishery in Lake Opeongo, Ontario, Canada. Methods: Boat identification numbers, positioned near the bow and present by law, were used as "tags" in the CJS analysis. Complete trip creel interviews at the sole access point provided information on trip characteristics. Result: The long‐term mark–recapture analysis of individual angling parties showed travel distance had a significant negative effect on party persistence among years and visitation within years. The distance effect was strongest for visitation, with visitation having a more negative relationship with distance than persistence. Persistence in the Lake Trout fishery was insensitive to fuel costs while the fuel cost covariate had a small though significant and negative effect on visitation. Time‐varying CJS models were ranked low with little model weight indicating the distance effect estimated for Lake Opeongo was a general phenomenon and not year dependent. Conclusion: Cormack–Joly–Seber mark–recapture analysis cleanly separated effects of travel distance and fuel cost between visitation versus persistence for Lake Trout angling parties. Prior to this analysis, travel costs were typically associated with visiting a recreational fishery, while here we have shown that travel costs can be associated with persisting as anglers in a fishery independent of visitation patterns. Long‐term monitoring of angling parties provides unique insights into angling patterns that can aid in travel cost estimation. Impact statementWe followed individual Lake Trout angling parties for 14 years at a single access point fishery. Our findings showed greater travel costs primarily resulted in reduced visitation within years, with a smaller negative effect on persistence as anglers among years. Visitation to a fishery and persistence as anglers in a fishery are different features of travel costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]