Recipient Organization
UNIV OF ARKANSAS
(N/A)
PINE BLUFF,AR 71601
Performing Department
Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries
Non Technical Summary
Recreational fishing activities can positively affect individuals and society in several ways, such as improving the physical and mental health of individuals, contributing to the local economy, and the resource management funding of the local agencies. However, there is a trade-off between the environmental disturbance and the social benefits, and to study the preferences of recreational users for fishing choices and the environmental attributes of fishing sites gives important implications on advocating recreational fisheries sustainably. This study will investigate the heterogeneity of anglers' choices for recreational fishing according to the resource qualities (e.g., water quality, ecological environment quality) at different fishing sites (such as lakes, river pools, community ponds), and individual choices on fishing according to different demographic and social-economic status. A survey will be distributed to the residents and non-residents that do recreational activities in the Delta area, including the ethnic and racial minorities in this region. Economic values of different fishing sites will be evaluated by conducting choice experiment questions, and a hurdle model will be applied to analyze the barriers of minority participation in the Delta area based on data. The future results aim at providing policy and management implications on developing recreational fisheries sustainably and serve as vital evidence to foster a sustainable leisure program.
Animal Health Component
60%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
30%
Applied
60%
Developmental
10%
Goals / Objectives
This study aims to investigate the recreational fishing participation in Arkansas, including the factors that will influence anglers' preferences for fishing activities in Arkansas. The heterogeneity of anglers' choices can be important to influence where people fish for recreation in Arkansas, and what factors will lead to higher participation in recreational fisheries in Arkansas.The activities outlined below in the objectives are needed to achieve the overall goal. The objectives of the project are to:Investigate recreational fishing anglers' participation in fresh-water recreational fishing and compare the cases studied in literature with that in Arkansas.Investigate factors influencing anglers' willingness-to-pay (WTP) for recreational fishing in Arkansas and explore the attributes that can increase fishing participation.Analyze the factors that influence the price of fishing license and explore the relationship between the price of fishing license and the participation of recreational fisheries in Arkansas; andProvide policy and management advice related to the recreational fishing participations in Arkansas and discuss the relationship between recreational fishing and ecotourism.
Project Methods
Objective 1: Investigate recreational fishing anglers' participation in fresh-water recreational fishing and compare the cases studied in literature with that in Arkansas.Literature has widely studied the economic impacts of individual fishing behaviors on society, and many factors such as the recreational fishing sites, fish species, commitment to angling, socio-demographic factors, and etc. are closely related to the choices of anglers (Hunt et al. 2019; Schramm, Gerard, and Gill 2003; Morales, Paudyal, and Hughes 2020; Morey, Thacher, and Breffle 2006; Fedler and Ditton 2001; Dabrowksa, Hunt, and Haider 2017).Though, anglers' heterogeneous preferences lead to a great variation in the patterns of the fresh-water recreational fishing choices, which are found to vary by region as well. The investigation on the anglers' preferences for recreational fishing in Arkansas is missing in the literature that I am aware of. Hence, understanding the factors determining the anglers' participation in recreational fishing in Arkansas are important not only to encourage the participation of recreational fishing but gives significant policy implications to develop sustainable recreational fishing in Arkansas.Objective 2: Investigate factors influencing anglers' WTP to recreational fishing and explore the impacts of other recreational activities on fishing participation.Understanding the attributes related to Arkansas anglers' choices for recreational fishing is important for better management advice and can be useful to increase future participation in recreational fisheries. A questionnaire will be conducted to investigate anglers' participation in recreational fishing in Arkansas. Analysis of the behavior changes on recreational fishing will be given based on the existing data collected by AGFC. The recreational values of fishing sites with different environmental quality will be calculated by applying the travel cost approach. It aims to measure the recreational benefits of resource-based recreation in Arkansas.The travel cost method has been widely applied to estimate the recreational benefits, comparing the economic costs based on different site selections for recreational activities (Driml 2002; Rolfe and Prayaga 2007). This study will select the participants based on different regions in Arkansas, using zip code and a frame of licensed anglers to determine the sample. The economic values of the different fishing site i for anglers will be calculated.The economic values of recreational fishing will also be estimated by choice experiment, which uses stated preference methods and can be applied to study use value, option value, and non- use-value of the non-market goods (Kjær 2005). Future participation in recreational fishing will be highly influenced by factors such as demographic changes, recreational programs, and facilities, etc. (Hunt et al. 2019). To provide better policy and management advice to foster the future participation in recreational fishing, choice experiment question sets will be designed, and the survey will be given to current fishing license holders and non-license holders, asking their willingness to pay for the resource-based recreational sites varying by different locations and recreational activities.Objective 3: Analyze the relationship between the price of fishing licenses and the participation of recreational fisheries in Arkansas.Increasing the fishing license sales is important to the commissions as it is the organization's goal to maximize the revenues while also keep sustainable management strategies to maintain the health status of fish stocks. The sales of recreational fishing licenses are critical for agencies to manage the natural resources, as these sales represent a large part of the agency's operating budget (Hunt et al. 2017; Bennear, Stavins, and Wagner 2005). Studies suggest that the price of fishing licenses and acres of fishable waters are the key to affect the purchase of fishing licenses (Loomis and Fix 1998). The AGFC issues 20 types of fishing licenses for anglers, with only 2 free permits for fishing. The prices for fishing licenses vary by species and anglers' characteristics (residents and non-residents).Objective 4: Provide policy and management advice to improve recreational fishing participation in Arkansas and discuss the relationship between recreational fishing and ecotourism.The key to the success of issuing a fishing license is to maintain a healthy fish stock. While increasing the participation of recreational fishing is important such that economic benefits from the sales of the fishing licenses can contribute to the development of the agencies, it is worthwhile to notice keeping the rate of catch success at a low level is essential to establish a sustainable recreational fishing management system. However, it is highly possible that a low catching rate will decrease anglers' fishing utility. Hence, this study will explore the ways to increase the anglers' utility while at a low catching success. Developing ecotourism is one of the focuses that will be discussed in this research based on the findings in previous objectives.