Recreational Specializations and Motivations of Virginia River Anglers

On-site interviews and a mail questionnaire survey of 377 anglers on two Virginia rivers were used to evaluate the concept of recreational specialization for differentiating angler subgroups. Specialization was defined for four dimensions of angler behavior: (1) fishery resource use, (2) experience, (3) investment, and (4) centrality of angling to lifestyle. Six types of anglers, representing low to high levels of specialization, were identified by cluster analysis. The experience dimension was the most important contributor to the framework, accounting for 24% of the variance in the data. A combination of the resource, investment, and centrality dimensions explained 48% of the variance. Highly specialized anglers were likely to cite resource-related motives (e.g., trophy fish), to rely on skill to catch fish, to prefer to catch and release larger fish, and to favor restrictive harvest regulations. Less specialized anglers cited escape and family-oriented recreation as motivations for fishing, pl...