The Status of Competitive Sport Fishing in North America

Abstract

Organized competitive sportfishing has been a growing use of fishery resources for at least the last 20 years. We conducted a survey of fishery agencies in Canada, the United States, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands to estimate the numbers and types of competitive fishing events in inland and marine waters and to determine fishery agency perceptions of the benefits and problems associated with these events. Based on survey responses, there were 20,697 competitive fishing events annually. Adjusting for agencies that did not provide estimates and incomplete reporting, we estimated that there were at least 31,000 competitive fishing events annually. Most competitive fishing events were for black bass in inland waters and billfish in marine waters, but events targeted many species of fish. In inland waters, events for species other than black bass appear to be increasing. Prevalent problems of competitive fishing perceived by fishery management agencies were stimulation and concentration of fishing effort, conflicts among user groups, and impeded access. Prevalent benefits of competitive fishing were economical acquisition of catch and biological data, promotion of recreational fishing, and communication between agencies and anglers. Our survey indicated the need for accurate (rather than estimated) and current data about competitive fishing and further investigations of sociological aspects, economic values, and biological impacts of competitive fishing events.

Effectiveness of Livewell Additives on Largemouth Bass Survival

“…are commonly targeted by anglers during competitive angling events in the United States (Schramm et al 1991;Paukert et al 2007). Because the rate of competitive angling events continues to increase (Kerr and Kamke 2003;Schramm and Hunt 2007), interest in minimizing mortality is an issue of concern among anglers and fisheries biologists alike (Schramm and Hunt 2007;Siepker et al 2007).…”

Unregulated catches from recreational fisheries off northeastern Brazil

“…3), but the rhythm slows down from July to September probably due to the rainy and windy season, and also from December to January, when it is more difficult to have high attendance due to the holiday season. The degree of activity observed in northeastern Brazil is much lower than the 978 annual events estimated for North American marine waters in 1989 (Schramm Jr. et al 1991) or the much more frequent freshwater tournaments All available records indicate that up to 2.2 tonnes of fishes were caught annually in fishing tournaments in four states in northeastern Brazil (Fig. 4).…”

“…Several 'non-official' clubs organize their own fishing tournaments and catches estimated here are originating from both official and non-official tournaments. In this paper, fishing tournaments are considered as synonymous with tacking tournaments or competitive fishing and are defined as "organized events in which a group of anglers fish for inducements -awards, prizes, or public recognition -in addition to the catch or the satisfaction of catching fish" (Schramm Jr. et al 1991).…”

Recreational angling tournaments: participants' expenditures

“…In North America alone there are an estimated 25-31,000 competitive shing events annually (Schramm Jr et al, 1991;Kerr and Kamke, 2003) and as many as one-in-ve anglers participate in shing tournaments (Petchenik, 2009). In the UK up to a quarter of angling club members cited competitive angling as an important reason for joining an angling club (Brown et al, 2012), while in Ireland there were in excess of 280 competitive angling events during 2013 (O'Reilly, 2014).…”