Understanding recreational fishers and their attitudes to conservation

To address declining marine ecosystem health and biodiversity, governing bodies must employ policy to prevent harmful activities while maintaining a sustainable level of access for communities. Consequently, users who may have... [ view full abstract ]

To address declining marine ecosystem health and biodiversity, governing bodies must employ policy to prevent harmful activities while maintaining a sustainable level of access for communities. Consequently, users who may have previously had access to marine resources may find restrictions on their activities, including individuals who fish for recreation. Recreational fishers are a key stakeholder group to consider when planning conservation policy as they can hold considerable influence on governments, particularly on divisive issues such as marine protected areas, and stakeholder support for regulations is key to achieving success. In Western Australia, more than one in four people fish recreationally, therefore account for a large proportion of the voting public. An internet survey of 588 fishers across WA was employed to collect information on avidity, catch orientation and motivations in addition to attitudes towards marine protected areas, fisheries management tools and managing institutions. Results show overall support for conservation measures is extremely high amongst surveyed fishers despite distrust of managing institutions. Some groups of fishers have lower support for sanctuary zones than others, and support is higher amongst all fishers when no fishing zones protect a unique or fragile place, or specific event. Recreational fishers are a diverse stakeholder group who hold different attitudes to regulatory tools, and are therefore likely to be impacted in a variety of ways by marine policy. Together these results demonstrate the need to bridge the gap between the community and the management institutions and outlines opportunities to engage with recreational fishers in the future.