Angler intel on the state of recreational fisheries

While not often considered in this way, recreational fishing may be contributing to “hidden” declines (where declines are happening over time but are unnoticed). Catch-and-release fishing, popularized in the 1970s, aims to protect fish as they are released instead of harvested; thus, theoretically allowing fish populations to be maintained for the benefit of ecosystems and human recreation. Despite this, there is now substantial evidence that catch-and-release fishing can cause some level of delayed mortality and other potential impacts, including changes to behavior, growth, and reproduction. Over time, these impacts contribute to “hidden declines” within a population and render certain catch-and-release fishing regulations ineffective. To safeguard a fishery against hidden declines, it is important to conduct population monitoring to assess long-term trends. For various reasons, not all exploited fish populations are monitored, due to inherent technical challenges or lack of resources. In Ontario, Canada, this is the case for Largemouth Bass Micropterus nigricans and Smallmouth Bass M. dolomieu. Although there are monitoring programs for fish populations in Ontario (which is itself remarkable, given the vast number of water bodies), the methods used are not optimal for monitoring the status of populations of black bass Micropterus spp. Alternative monitoring strategies, such as the use of knowledge from long-time anglers (serving as key informants), has proven to be useful in a variety of places around the world, and is often used for hard to monitor species. With a lack of monitoring for black bass in Ontario, we used knowledge from anglers to determine if they are perceiving changes in the populations (abundance and size) of Largemouth Bass and Smallmouth Bass. Anecdotal reports of decreases in black bass size and ­numbers have existed for some time, and this is the first study that aimed to assess the validity of these reports. To that end, a survey was distributed to anglers that target black bass on various waters in eastern Ontario. As part of the survey, we asked each angler to rank their fishing experience on each lake over different time periods. In total, 354 people responded to the survey. We determined that across the past 50 years, the average perceived number and size of both Largemouth Bass and Smallmouth Bass has decreased across all 16 of the study waters, with sharp decreases occurring after 2005. Through previous research studies, we know that catch-and-release fishing has impacts on the number of surviving juvenile fish in our study area and that an increasing level of illegal fishing could have caused some of these declines. Linking studies that monitored the impacts of fishing during the spawning season with the survey results showing that anglers perceive a decline in Ontarian black bass fisheries offers unique insights for assessing the overall health of black bass populations. This leads to two main conclusions: (1) Monitoring programs need to do a better job of assessing impacts and trends, and show how even catch-and-release angling for black bass can impact overall health of the population, and (2) the use of local and expert knowledge provides valuable insight, especially when monitoring is insufficient or doesn’t exist. To avoid situations where we are “too little, too late,” we may need to use local knowledge from key informants to stay ahead of potential declines. It is only with these insights that we can begin to implement effective management interventions that benefit fish and people. I would like to acknowledge and thank Dr. Steven Cooke, Dr. David Philipp, Julie Claussen and Dr. Cory Suski for their work in recreational fisheries and their support for the use of alternative monitoring and management.

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