How relevant are recreational fisheries? Motivation and activity of resident and tourist anglers in Majorca

doi:10.1016/j.fishres.2014.10.010

Fisheries Research

Volume 164, April 2015, Pages 45-49

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2014.10.010 Get rights and content

Highlights

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Both resident and non-resident anglers (tourists) practice recreational fishing in Majorca (Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean).
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Resident anglers amount to around 15% of the population, albeit tourists fishing activity is low, due to the high touristic activity they are important.
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The expenditure of resident recreational anglers is estimated to be 57 million Euro (1% of the Majorcan economy).
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In addition, the economic value added through tourist fishing expenditure may be 6 million Euro.
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The amount of catch in weight by all anglers combined was significant (43% of the catch in weight of commercial coastal fisheries) and should be considered in the management of coastal fisheries.

Abstract

Both resident and non-resident anglers (tourists) practice recreational fishing in Majorca (Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean). We present the results of two surveys designed with the objective of estimating the expenses incurred by anglers in recreational fishing and describing their motivation for fishing. A mail survey targeted resident anglers, and two intercept surveys targeted tourist anglers (in the mass tourism and nautical tourism sectors). The main motivation for resident anglers was enjoying tranquility, followed by catch consumption. For tourists, fishing was not the motivation for visiting Majorca. The expenditure of resident recreational anglers is estimated to be 57 million Euro (1% of the Majorcan economy). The number of tourists practicing recreational fishing was low, but their catch was estimated to encompass 16% of the total commercial coastal fishery catch. In addition, the economic value added through fishing expenditure may be 6 million Euro due to the large number of tourists visiting Majorca. The amount of catch in weight by all anglers combined was significant (43% of the catch in weight of commercial coastal fisheries) and should be considered in the management of coastal fisheries in the Balearic Islands and elsewhere in the Mediterranean where recreational fishing is important.

Introduction

Mediterranean coastal fisheries are traditional, small-scale, low investment activities that overlap in space and resource use with a very important and increasingly popular recreational fishery (Morales-Nin et al., 2005). Majorca coastal fisheries are experiencing a transition from dominant small-scale commercial fishing to recreational fishing; the varying contexts of use rights, heterogeneity among users related to diverse interests and resource use patterns, and the dynamics of the coastal ecosystem supporting fisheries are some of the challenges facing fisheries management to cope with declining fish populations. This diversity and complexity call for the multilevel arrangements presently enforced in Majorca (Morales-Nin et al., 2010). The management consists of different sets of measures for recreational and commercial fisheries mainly based on access and effort restrictions (Morales-Nin et al., 2010). These measures were designed without considering the fishermen motivations or the relative economic importance of both coastal fisheries; both factors in developing management frameworks are required for an ecosystem approach to fisheries (Kim and Zhang, 2011). Therefore, it is necessary to provide fisheries managers with basic information for decision making about future public spending on the conservation, restoration or management of the natural resources supporting the recreational fishery and for infrastructure investments (e.g., access roads and service facilities; Toivonen et al., 2004).

The aim of the present work was to provide angler activity estimations and economic information for the recreational fishery, which are important when managing a publicly owned resource such as coastal fishes. Although the economic value of recreational fisheries is difficult to assess (Arlinghaus and Cooke, 2009), the economic importance of recreational fishing is often expressed through the expenditure made by those who fish (Riechers and Fedler, 1996; Toivonen et al., 2004). Based on field observations, we knew that tourists might fish during their holidays in Majorca; however, there were no data on their activity, which could be relevant due to their high numbers (INESTUR-CITTIB, 2009). Therefore, we evaluated the motivations and incurred expenditures of angler tourists, differentiating between nautical tourists and common tourists, using mail and intercept surveys. The values obtained provide a first approximation of the magnitude of this popular leisure activity on a Mediterranean island.

Section snippets

Resident anglers

The expenditure of resident anglers in Majorca was assessed using a mail survey that was sent out in three batches between July 2009 and June 2010. The reference population encompasses all of the residents in Majorca who practice recreational fishing, which is estimated to be 32,792 (Morales-Nin et al., 2005). The names and addresses of the surveyed persons were obtained by the Fisheries Department of the Balearics Autonomous Government in their main office at Palma during the process of

Resident anglers

The motivations for practicing recreational fishing were highly hedonic, with 92% of the responses declaring leisure reasons. Related to this fact is the prioritization of sites to practice recreational fishing, with quiet places ranked first. The second motivation for practicing recreational fishing was catch consumption, which is preferably freshly consumed (82% of responses) or frozen for later consumption.

Most anglers practice 1, 2 or 3 modalities, most of which are based on the use of a

Discussion

The results indicated that the expenditures and catches of the angling community, considering resident and visitors of Majorca, are not negligible. The sources of bias might be important and multiple, ranging from non-attractive questionnaires (McNamara, 1994) to more active anglers being prone to collaborate in scientific studies (Fisher, 1997), as well as recall and veracity limitations (Morales-Nin et al., 2005). However, our results demonstrated the potential impact of resident anglers both

Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the Spanish MINECO project CONFLICT (CGL2008-958). We would like to thank Dr. H. Levrel (IFREMER), Dr. M. Palmer, Mr. Eugenio García, Mrs. Silvia Pérez, Mrs. Itziar Alvárez and Mrs. Rosario Cañas (IMEDEA) for their assessment and help in the polling and data management. We would also like to thank the tourists who participated in the poll; may they happily come back to Majorca many times!

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Short CommunicationHow relevant are recreational fisheries? Motivation and activity of resident and tourist anglers in Majorca

Highlights

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Resident anglers

Resident anglers

Discussion

Acknowledgments

Ocean Coast. Manag.

J. Environ. Econ. Manag.

Tour. Manag.

Ocean Coast. Manag.

The economic impact of yacht charter tourism on the Balearic economy

Tour. Econ.

Recreational fisheries: socioeconomic importance, conservation issues and management challenges

Sampling Techniques

Segmentation of the angler popultion by catch preference, participation, and experience: a management-oriented application of recreational specialization

North Am. Jour. Fish. Manag.

Short Communication
How relevant are recreational fisheries? Motivation and activity of resident and tourist anglers in Majorca