COVID-19 influences on US recreational angler behavior

Abstract

Recreational angling in the United States (US) is largely a personal hobby that scales up to a multibillion-dollar economic activity. Given dramatic changes to personal decisions and behaviors resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, we surveyed recreational anglers across the US to understand how the pandemic may have affected their fishing motivations and subsequent activities. Nearly a quarter million anglers from 10 US states were invited to participate in the survey, and almost 18,000 responded. Anglers reported numerous effects of the pandemic, including fishing access restrictions. Despite these barriers, we found that the amount of fishing in the spring of 2020 was significantly greater—by about 0.2 trips per angler—than in non-pandemic springs. Increased fishing is likely associated with our result that most respondents considered recreational angling to be a COVID-19 safe activity. Nearly a third of anglers reported changing their motivation for fishing during the pandemic, with stress relief being more popular during the pandemic than before. Driven partly by the perceived safety of social fishtancing, recreational angling remained a popular activity for many US anglers during spring 2020.

The Significance of Angling in Stress Reduction during the COVID-19 Pandemic—Environmental and Socio-Economic Implications

“…Additionally, recreation has a positive effect on neutralizing other pandemic effects, such as weight gain, e.g., [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]. As can be seen from this and other studies, e.g., [ 21 ], angling can be viewed as an activity that can significantly reduce the negative social and psychological impacts of pandemics.…”

“…One of the most important issues in this matter is the perception of angling as a safe form of recreation during a pandemic. Recent studies, e.g., [ 21 , 23 ], as well as this paper, have indicated that anglers perceive their hobby as a safe activity. Almost 98% were not afraid of getting sick during fishing, while two-thirds (66.5%) were not afraid of getting sick at all.…”

“…The research so far shows that it is regarded as “giving a sense of security” in the pandemic. This is the result of anglers’ subjective perspectives, and references to objective reasons are related to best angling practices and knowledge of the aerosol or fomite transmission of viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2 [ 21 , 22 , 23 ]. This is because of two key factors.…”

“…The first is an open-air environment, which, according to research [ 22 , 24 ], significantly reduces the chance of a COVID-19 transmission. The second is its very specificity, which almost naturally enforces social distance, already referred to in the literature as “social fishstancing”, e.g., [ 21 ]. The legal solutions in some regions, or of specific fisheries, often enforce a minimum distance between active anglers, and this legislation was in force before the pandemic [ 25 , 26 ].…”

“…The above specificity has led to an increased interest in fishing participation among many people. Anglers’ choices, for example, those due to reduced mobility, have also changed due to the pandemic [ 21 , 23 , 29 , 30 ]. Nevertheless, many concerns are associated with the spread of COVID-19 in recreation, even outdoors [ 31 ], and it is essential to always take these risks into account.…”