Fisheries Management and Ecology最新文献

As a widely enjoyed pursuit, recreational fishing plays a key socio-economic role in Australia by supporting coastal businesses, especially in regional areas. Satisfaction is considered an end outcome of angling that is important in fisheries management by contributing to ongoing participation and regulatory strategies. Port Phillip Bay (PPB) in Victoria, Australia, hosts the State's largest marine recreational fishery, yet angler satisfaction has not been previously explored. We evaluated the influence of age groups, regions (5 boat ramps in Melbourne, 7 in Bellarine, and 8 in Mornington), key target species (snapper, King George whiting, calamari, and flathead), and catch rate on spatiotemporal patterns in long-term satisfaction from creel surveys conducted around PPB during 2016–2022. Angler satisfaction varied with catch per unit of effort (CPUE) and angler avidity. Satisfaction varied annually and regionally, with higher satisfaction among younger anglers, especially in the Bellarine region along the western coastline of PPB. Angler satisfaction also varied among target species, with anglers targeting calamari being generally more satisfied, although satisfaction increased for snapper when interacted with CPUE. Insights into angler behavior and key factors that influence angling satisfaction will ultimately provide a basis for formulating performance indicators to monitor and assess future angler satisfaction. More broadly, our study also provides guidance about how management interventions will impact angler satisfaction, therefore making it more likely that needs and concerns of recreational fishers are considered in decision making processes.

Painting by Norman Stewart, Yorta Yorta Elder.

The indigenous dreamtime story of the Murray cod – a culturally significant Australian native recreational fish species. The story goes, an enormous ‘Burnanga’ (Murray cod) journeyed through Kwat-Kwat (Yorta Yorta) country on his way to the Coorong. As he passed through the fish traps, he swished his tail and dug his powerful head. This carved out the deep, bending, sprawling river that we know today as the Murray River.

The smoothtail spiny lobster (Panulirus laevicauda) is one of the main target species for fisheries in Brazil. We aimed to estimate reproductive parameters of this species in support of a minimum legal size limit for the region. A sample of 508 individuals ranged 13.75–100 mm in cephalothorax length (CL) from the southern coast of Espírito Santo, Brazil, during 2020–2021. Males were more abundant than females. Females reached morphological maturity before males, at 68.4 mm CL, for both sexes. Reproduction was between November and March, and some large females were capable of spawning more than once during the reproductive period. Because large adult females could spawn more than once per season, we recommend increasing the legal minimum capture size of P. laevicauda to 70 mm CL in Brazil.

Monitoring of recreational fisheries faces ongoing challenges due to irregular data collection and sampling gaps. We used a robust statistical approach combining cross-sectional panel modeling with generalized linear models to analyze discontinuous time series data. We modeled recreational boating patterns across four distinct Western Australian locations using camera monitoring data (2011–2014), and integrated weather conditions and temporal factors to improve trend estimation. Environmental conditions were strongly related to boating activity, particularly wind effects of distinct north–south patterns. Recreational activity decreased at northern locations during easterly winds and at southern locations during northerly winds. Cross-validation demonstrated how environmental factors can be leveraged to predict recreational fishing efforts across temporal discontinuities. Advanced time series testing confirmed that environmental–boating relationships were consistent when bridging significant data gaps. This methodological framework provides fisheries researchers with practical tools to reliably estimate effort from intermittent monitoring programs and to enable more informed decision-making despite the constraints of sparse sampling. The approach can be readily applied to other ecological monitoring systems where continuous data collection is impractical or cost-prohibitive.

Recreational fishing extends beyond catching fish, by connecting individuals with nature, generating environmental stewards, and contributing to local, regional, and national economies. Multi- and inter-disciplinary research, integrative management, and policy approaches can support better assessment of potential impacts of recreational fishing on social-ecological systems. Transdisciplinary thinking supports managing recreational fisheries effectively, but poses challenges for researchers and managers balancing specialized expertise with innovative, boundary-crossing perspectives in light of limited funding in a rapidly changing environment. The World Recreational Fishing Conference (WRFC) serves as the leading global scientific forum for addressing these challenges, by fostering interdisciplinary exchange among scientists, managers, policy makers, and stakeholders. Papers in this special issue represent the output of the last WRFC in Melbourne, Australia, in 2023. By reviewing the content of papers published in the present special issue, we illustrate the critical role of collaborative spaces, such as the WRFC series, in bridging different expertise and approaches and fostering innovation, thereby securing adaptive management and conservation of recreational fisheries in response to global changes. Evaluating the development of the WRFC over three decades highlights how this conference series represents a leading think tank serving the entire network of recreational fisheries professionals globally.

Trammel nets are used with extended soaking times to increase the catching efficiency for demersal fish in commercial fishing. Long soaking time causes deterioration or damage to species caught in the first days. Effects of soaking time were investigated with 36-mm, 42-mm, and 46-mm mesh sizes soaked over 1, 3, 5, and 7 days on target, non-target, and other species. Only 26.3% (293 individual fish) of 1113 individual fish were not damaged of the target species. Total weight of non-damaged individuals was 247.6 kg, of which 150.6 kg (60.8%) was the target species. Critically endangered and endangered Chondrichthyes species were negatively affected by soaking time and mesh size. Current and previous regulations did not restrict soaking time or mesh size of trammel-net fisheries in Türkiye. Extended soaking times of trammel nets may cause more negative ecosystem effects than ghost fishing. Consequently, 42-mm mesh-size trammel nets soaked for 1 day should be used by fishers. If used for more than 1 day, 42-mm or 46-mm mesh sizes should be used.