Angler Noncompliance with Slot Length Limits for Northern Pike in Five Small Minnesota Lakes

Fishing for Northern Pike in Minnesota: Comparing Anglers and Dark House Spearers

“…Previous research on anglers documented higher-than-expected noncompliance with protected slot limits for Northern Pike in Minnesota, which may reflect a lack of either knowledge or support for the limits (Pierce and Tomcko 1998). Although we found that both anglers and spearers disliked protected slot limits, individuals who participated in dark house spearing were particularly resistant to the limits.…”

What determines fishers’ knowledge of and attitudes towards regulations? A case study from the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand

“…Similarly, although the effects of participation in the management process have been widely studied in commercial fisheries [12,25], there appears to be a lack of research in the context of recreational fisheries. While there have been several investigations into fishers' knowledge of regulations in recreational fisheries, these were carried out in the United States [5,7,8] or South Africa [26,27]. The South African studies investigated both regulation knowledge and satisfaction by region, but did not test for significant differences or explore the factors shaping knowledge and attitudes.…”

“…Awareness of regulations can significantly influence fishers' decisions to comply [4,5], as the effectiveness of a rule is limited by an individual's knowledge and understanding of it [6]. For example, Pierce and Tomcko [7] suggested that much of the 29% non-compliance rate for five Minnesota lakes was due to a lack of awareness of the applicable regulations, while Page and Radomski [8] found that fishers less aware of the regulations were more likely to be non-compliant among multiple fisheries. Fisher attitudes can also affect compliance behaviour, with even low levels of noncompliance potentially undermining the management regime's effectiveness [9,10].…”

The elasticity of fishing effort response and harvest outcomes to altered regulatory policies in eel (Anguilla anguilla) recreational angling

“…To identify regulatory actions that are capable of achieving stated management goals of increased escapement of eel from European catchments (EC, 2007), it is crucial to anticipate stakeholder responses (Dorow et al, 2009(Dorow et al, , 2010. This is particularly evident given the need for voluntary compliance with regulations, a characteristic of all freshwater recreational fisheries, where regulatory enforcement is limited by a large population of independent agents (i.e., anglers) dispersed across complex fishery landscapes (Gigliotti and Taylor, 1990;Pierce and Tomcko, 1998;Walker et al, 2007). Our study showed that the effort responses of eel anglers are likely to be inelastic to individual changes in regulatory policies.…”

“…Anglers may respond to a suite of changes in the fishing experience (e.g., type of regulation in place, catch rates, size of fish, crowding) by (i) changing angling frequency, (ii) substituting alternative sites, or (iii) substituting other species to target (e.g., Post et al, 2002;Beard et al, 2003;Ditton and Sutton, 2004). When angler behaviour does not align with regulatory objectives, management policies may fail (Pierce and Tomcko, 1998;Sullivan, 2003). Therefore, it is important to understand angler behaviour when designing management regulations for a particular fishery or fish species.…”