First paper published!!

To stock or not? This is the question we asked recreational fishers in the first paper published from the project in the Journal Ambio. While stocking is generally perceived to be popular with fishers in other places around the world, we show, for the first time, that recreational fishers are aware of some of the trade offs of stocking, e.g. more fish but of a smaller size. Interestingly though they do not consider these negative effects to be likely or particularly influential.

You can find out more about the paper here and read the abstract below.

A two-phase approach to elicit and measure beliefs on management strategies: Fishers supportive and aware of trade-offs associated with stock enhancement

Understanding fisher beliefs and attitudes towards specific management strategies can help inform and improve fisheries management, and thus stock sustainability. Previous studies highlight a lack of fisher awareness regarding environmental issues influencing the systems they utilise and the negative impacts of specific strategies, such as stock enhancement. Our study used a two-phase approach to first elicit and then measure the strength of common fishers’ beliefs and associated attitudes regarding stock enhancement. Specifically, this research focused on recreational fishers of an estuarine crab fishery (Portunus armatus) in south-western Australia. The results demonstrate that recreational fishers believe stock enhancement could have strong positive outcomes, but also recognise that this management strategy could lead to some negative outcomes, though the latter are perceived as less likely to happen. This contrasts with previous research on fisheries stocking and demonstrates the value of using the two-phase approach to clarify fishers’ perceptions of particular management approaches. To reduce fisher dissatisfaction with management actions, careful communication on the benefits and costs of stock enhancement is recommended. Our study highlights the significance of integrating social sciences into fisheries research, and the need to better understand fishing community beliefs to ensure effective management of the fishery.