Details:

Journal Title:
North American Journal of Fisheries Management
Personal Author:
Goldsmith, William M. ; Scheld, Andrew M. ; Graves, John E.
Goldsmith, William M. ; Scheld, Andrew M. ; Graves, John E. Less -
NOAA Program & Office:
OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research)
Description:
The Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Thunnus thynnus is the target of a recreational fishery along the U.S. East Coast that is thought to be of considerable economic value. In some years, recreational landings have exceeded the sector's annual subquota due to changes in fish availability, limited predictability of angler effort, and difficulties in real‐time monitoring of catch. Understanding the drivers of angler behavior is critical for predicting how effort and harvest may vary as a function of changing fish availability, regulations, or costs. To investigate angler decision making, preferences, and values, we surveyed private recreational anglers from Maine to North Carolina and employed discrete choice experiments to determine how regulatory and nonregulatory trip‐specific variables influence trip‐taking behavior. A latent class‐ranked logit model identified two distinct classes of anglers who exhibited differing preferences in regard to the importance of nonconsumptive aspects of Bluefin Tuna fishing (e.g., catch and release). Income and recent Bluefin Tuna targeting were the primary determinants of class membership, and higher‐income anglers who had targeted Bluefin Tuna in the past 5 years were significantly more likely to be in the class that derives substantive benefits from nonconsumptive angling activities. An annual consumer surplus exceeding US$14 million was estimated for the 2015 fishery. We considered potential angler welfare impacts of possible management changes (compensating surplus) and identified a large amount of latent effort currently present in the fishery in the form of consumptive‐oriented anglers. As a result, liberalization of harvest regulations could potentially lead to a large influx of effort into the fishery, which could impede the ability of managers to maintain harvest levels within prescribed limits.
Keywords:
[+]
Aquatic Science Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior And Systematics Management, Monitoring, Policy And Law
Source:
North American Journal of Fisheries Management, 38(3), 680-697
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1002/nafm.10064
ISSN:
0275-5947;1548-8675;
Format:
PDF
Publisher:
Wiley
Document Type:
Journal Article
Funding:
Grant no. NA15OAR4170179
Rights Information:
Other
Compliance:
Library
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:5b2e61b4f6dda5a9c7729630b8190958d3c9d23e46275e05e4b30012a2159c3d
Download URL:
https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/59672/noaa_59672_DS1.pdf
File Type:

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