Determinants of management preferences of recreational anglers in Germany: Habitat management versus fish stocking

Abstract

In Europe research and policy debates point to the need to increase efforts to rehabilitate or restore habitat structure and function at the expense of the traditional recreational fisheries management approach to intensively stock fish. Against this background it is paramount to understand and explain the management preferences of anglers. No research has empirically examined key factors explaining whether anglers prefer various forms of habitat management (HM) over stocking. By means of a telephone survey, we investigated the management preferences of a nationwide random sample of anglers in Germany to fund either HM or fish stocking. Management strategies potentially restricting the own activity were, on average, opposed. Anglers with high pro-ecological and low traditional management beliefs, negative stocking and positive HM attitudes, satisfied with the previous angling year, less catch orientated, successful (catch) and committed, fishing most frequently in natural water bodies, and living in more rural areas exhibited the preference to fund HM as opposed to stocking. Basic human characteristics such as beliefs, attitudes and the angler's consumptive orientation were more meaningful predictor variables than typical angler variables such as demographics, angler experience or angler preferences (e.g. species preference). Angler catch and satisfaction emerged as the only near-term managerially manipulable variables that could be addressed to increase support for HM. Traditional management approaches without effort limitation will probably fail to initiate this shift. Anglers should be increasingly involved personally in designing and implementing management programs to facilitate their ''education'' about the outcomes and risks of various management actions.

Social-ecological interactions, management panaceas, and the future of wild fish populations

“…Stocking, defined here as the repeated injection of juvenile fish from various sources (mainly hatchery-bred offspring from hatchery or wild spawners) to support wild fish populations (7,8), is a common management practice in fisheries involving billions of individuals released annually across the world (7,9). Stocking is perceived by many as the most obvious solution to declining populations (10,11), but conservation biologists increasingly warn against unintended and often irreversible repercussions for aquatic biodiversity, ranging from genetic to community scales (e.g., 1,[12][13][14]. Therefore, understanding the evolution of stocking as a panacea-like management tool in the coupled SES of recreational fisheries and studying its impacts on wild fish populations are globally relevant (15), particularly because in many industrialized countries, fishing for recreational rather than commercial or subsistence purposes constitutes the dominant use of wild freshwater fish populations (16).…”

“…Irrespective of the property rights regime, normative pressure exerted by resource users (e.g., anglers) on managers to maintain stocks in the face of exploitation and other threats influences management decisions, such as stocking (10,18,19). Peer pressure may be particularly direct and intense under the private rights regime, where managers usually operate voluntarily in the interest of the angler constituency (e.g., in angling clubs and associations) as leaseholders of fisheries in central Europe (17).…”

Determinants of Saltwater Anglers’ Satisfaction with Fisheries Management: Regional Perspectives in the United States

“…This does not mean that catch is unimportant. Catch-related motives for fishing are still important in determining trip, holiday, or angling-year satisfaction (Graefe and Fedler 1986;Connelly and Brown 2000;Herrmann et al 2002;Arlinghaus and Mehner 2005).…”

“…This does not mean that catch is unimportant. Catch-related motives for fishing are still important in determining trip, holiday, or angling-year satisfaction (Graefe and Fedler 1986;Connelly and Brown 2000;Herrmann et al 2002;Arlinghaus and Mehner 2005).Satisfaction with a specific trip is related to individual catch success, such as positive catch rates, increased catch quality, larger fish, or success with targeted species (Arlinghaus and Mehner 2005). Other factors influencing trip satisfaction include competition with other members of a group, number of species caught, and length of the fishing trip (Beardmore et al 2015).…”

“…Satisfaction with a specific trip is related to individual catch success, such as positive catch rates, increased catch quality, larger fish, or success with targeted species (Arlinghaus and Mehner 2005). Other factors influencing trip satisfaction include competition with other members of a group, number of species caught, and length of the fishing trip (Beardmore et al 2015).…”