Global responses to the COVID-19 pandemic by recreational anglers: Considerations for developing more resilient and sustainable fisheries

Britton, J. Robert, Pinder, Adrian C., Alós, Josep, Arlinghaus, Robert, Danylchuk, Andy J., Edwards, Wendy, Freire, Kátia M. F., Gundelund, Casper, Hyder, Kieran ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1428-5679, Jarić, Ivan, Lennox, Robert, Lewin, Wolf-Christian, Lynch, Abigail J., Midway, Stephen R., Potts, Warren M., Ryan, Karina L., Skov, Christian, Strehlow, Harry V., Tracey, Sean R., Tsuboi, Jun-ichi, Venturelli, Paul A., Weir, Jessica L., Weltersbach, Marc Simon and Cooke, Steven J. (2023) Global responses to the COVID-19 pandemic by recreational anglers: Considerations for developing more resilient and sustainable fisheries. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 33 (4). pp. 1095-1111. ISSN 0960-3166

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Abstract

The global COVID-19 pandemic resulted in many jurisdictions implementing orders restricting the movements of people to inhibit virus transmission, with recreational angling often either not permitted or access to fisheries and/or related infrastructure being prevented. Following the lifting of restrictions, initial angler surveys and licence sales suggested increased participation and effort, and altered angler demographics, but with evidence remaining limited. Here, we overcome this evidence gap by identifying temporal changes in angling interest, licence sales, and angling effort in world regions by comparing data in the ‘pre-pandemic’ (up to and including 2019); ‘acute pandemic’ (2020) and ‘COVID-acclimated’ (2021) periods. We then identified how changes can inform the development of more resilient and sustainable recreational fisheries. Interest in angling (measured here as angling-related internet search term volumes) increased substantially in all regions during 2020. Patterns in licence sales revealed marked increases in some countries during 2020 but not in others. Where licence sales increased, this was rarely sustained in 2021; where there were declines, these related to fewer tourist anglers due to movement restrictions. Data from most countries indicated a younger demographic of people who participated in angling in 2020, including in urban areas, but this was not sustained in 2021. These short-lived changes in recreational angling indicate efforts to retain younger anglers could increase overall participation levels, where efforts can target education in appropriate angling practices and create more urban angling opportunities. These efforts would then provide recreational fisheries with greater resilience to cope with future global crises, including facilitating the ability of people to access angling opportunities during periods of high societal stress.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Funding Information: We thank Derek Landry from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry for furnishing us with data on fishing licence sales in Ontario. We also thank Jens Felix (Angler Association of Saxony, Germany), Sebastian Hanfland (State Fisheries Association of Bavaria, Germany), Marcel Weihenhahn (State Angler Association of Brandenburg, Germany), Thomas Richter und Thomas Schaarschmidt (LALFF Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany) for providing data on licence sales and memberships and Dieter Kömle for additional help. We thank the South African Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries for providing the marine angling licence information and Joel Shirlow (Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development) for access to monthly licence information of Western Australia. We thank Fishbrain for access to their global dataset, and Stig Prüssing (The Danish Fishery Agency) for access to the Danish fishing licence sales. Thanks to the Environment Agency for provision of licence sales data for England, and to the Departamento de Registro e Monitoramento de Aquicultura e Pesca (Secretaria de Aquicultura e Pesca) for providing more recent data on licence purchases for Brazil. CS and CG thank the citizen scientists who provided data for the Danish citizen science platform Fangstjournalen. CG and CS received funding from the Danish Rod and Net Fish Licence funds (project 39122). CS, MSW and the German telephone survey have been cofounded by the European Commission’s Data Collection Framework (DCF). WCL and HVS received financial support from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany in the framework of marEEshift (project no. 01LC1826B). WMP and KH were supported by the One Ocean Hub, an independent programme for collaborative research for development, funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). All authors contributed to the design of the work, the analysis and interpretation of data, all authors contributed to the drafting of the manuscript and approved the version that was submitted. The views expressed are those of the authors, not their parent organisations, but are supported by the U.S. Geological Survey. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the US Government. Funding Information: We thank Derek Landry from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry for furnishing us with data on fishing licence sales in Ontario. We also thank Jens Felix (Angler Association of Saxony, Germany), Sebastian Hanfland (State Fisheries Association of Bavaria, Germany), Marcel Weihenhahn (State Angler Association of Brandenburg, Germany), Thomas Richter und Thomas Schaarschmidt (LALFF Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany) for providing data on licence sales and memberships and Dieter Kömle for additional help. We thank the South African Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries for providing the marine angling licence information and Joel Shirlow (Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development) for access to monthly licence information of Western Australia. We thank Fishbrain for access to their global dataset, and Stig Prüssing (The Danish Fishery Agency) for access to the Danish fishing licence sales. Thanks to the Environment Agency for provision of licence sales data for England, and to the Departamento de Registro e Monitoramento de Aquicultura e Pesca (Secretaria de Aquicultura e Pesca) for providing more recent data on licence purchases for Brazil. CS and CG thank the citizen scientists who provided data for the Danish citizen science platform Fangstjournalen. CG and CS received funding from the Danish Rod and Net Fish Licence funds (project 39122). CS, MSW and the German telephone survey have been cofounded by the European Commission’s Data Collection Framework (DCF). WCL and HVS received financial support from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany in the framework of marEEshift (project no. 01LC1826B). WMP and KH were supported by the One Ocean Hub, an independent programme for collaborative research for development, funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). All authors contributed to the design of the work, the analysis and interpretation of data, all authors contributed to the drafting of the manuscript and approved the version that was submitted. The views expressed are those of the authors, not their parent organisations, but are supported by the U.S. Geological Survey. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the US Government. Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).
Uncontrolled Keywords: angler demographics,angling effort,angling licence,covid-19 lockdown,culturomics,aquatic science ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1100/1104
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Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 25 Nov 2023 03:19
Last Modified: 28 Nov 2023 03:00
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/93768
DOI: 10.1007/s11160-023-09784-5

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