Pike stock management in designated brown trout fisheries: Anglers’ preferences. ESRI Research Bulletin, 2018/06

Curtis, John (2018) Pike stock management in designated brown trout fisheries: Anglers’ preferences. ESRI Research Bulletin, 2018/06. UNSPECIFIED.

Abstract

A policy review with respect to the active management of pike stocks within lakes that are designated as wild brown trout fisheries is currently underway. This paper examines trout and pike anglers’ preferences for pike stock management. Pike stocks are controlled with the objective of protecting brown trout stocks, and a naive assumption is that trout anglers support and pike anglers oppose this management intervention. This research reveals that this is not the case and that angler preferences for pike stock control are complex and nuanced. A majority of surveyed trout anglers, at 61%, revealed preferences opposing pike stock control, and all else equal, are more likely to choose fishing sites where pike stocks are not actively managed. The converse is that a substantial minority, 39%, of trout anglers are advocates of pike control, with about one-third of these being more extreme in their preferences. Not surprisingly, surveyed pike anglers do not support pike stock control measures, though the strength of their preferences varies across pike anglers. The research found that neither easily identifiable socio-demographic characteristics such as age and education, nor angler-type attributes such as fishing club membership and angler skill levels are associated with anglers’ support or opposition to pike stock control. Consequently, we surmise that preferences on pike stock control are related to anglers’ philosophical, ecological or political beliefs related to fishing or fishery management. Some other significant results from the analysis relate to catch rates and bag limits. Pike anglers are more responsive to catch rates than trout anglers. Pike anglers are 1.6 times more likely to visit a fishing site where the average catch rate is 1 fish higher compared to 1.1 times for trout anglers. At present there is a bag limit of 4 trout per day and the majority of trout anglers are not averse to a reduction in the daily bag limit. Only 1-in-8 trout anglers are opposed to reducing the daily bag limit.

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