Estimating angling effort and participation in a multi‐user, inland fishery in South Africa

Abstract

Angler counts, on-lake interviews and a household survey were used to estimate angler effort and participation in Lake Gariep, South AfricaÕs largest inland water body. Annual fishing effort was estimated from instantaneous counts at 16392 angler day )1 yr )1 . Recreational and subsistence anglers contributed 41 and 59% to the total annual fishing effort, respectively. Household surveys in lakeshore settlements estimated that ‡914 anglers fished the lake and minimum daily fishing effort in one of the fishing areas assessed was 77 anglers. As a result of recall bias, these estimates were almost twice as high as those determined by direct counts. A low cost method of assessing participation by applying a mark-recapture model to the proportion of anglers whom had been previously interviewed during eight bimonthly sampling events was tested. The model converged in three of four applications (2 areas · 2 sectors). The mark-recapture method revealed similar numbers of anglers to the estimate of regular anglers (fishing 1-3 times a week) from the household survey and was considered an appropriate estimator for the number of subsistence anglers. Regardless of the assessment method the results show that the resource is of importance to subsistence livelihoods, which is an important management consideration in future fisheries development and rights allocation processes. K E Y W O R D S : Lake Gariep, mark-recapture, recreational, subsistence.

An assessment of recreational bank angling in the Free State Province, South Africa, using licence sale and tournament data

“…This is supported by tournament data for the Free State Province, where C. carpio contributed 81% of the total weight and 77% of the total numbers of all fish landed (Table 4). The findings from tournament data were surprisingly consistent with the results of a comprehensive creel survey comprising more than 700 anglers' interviews and catch inspections at Gariep Dam, and which found that angler catches comprised mainly of C. carpio (74%), followed by L. capensis (13%) and L. aeneus (8%) (Ellender et al, 2009;2010a;2010b).…”

“…This is anomalous in the African context as fisheries in other countries are generally heavily exploited by small-scale fishers using gears such as gill nets, seine nets and traps (Weyl et al, 2010;Cooke et al, 2013;Weyl and Cowley, 2015). Although inland fisheries in South Africa are generally considered underexploited from a harvest perspective (Weyl et al, 2007;Britz et al, 2015), case studies of angling on the Hartbeespoort Dam (Cochrane, 1987) and the Gariep Dam (Ellender et al, 2009(Ellender et al, , 2010a(Ellender et al, , 2010b suggest that harvests by recreational and subsistence anglers can be considerable. Cochrane (1987), for example, estimated a mean annual harvest of 695 tons of fish from the 2 000 ha eutrophic Hartbeespoort Dam by recreational anglers from the metropolitan settlements in Gauteng.…”

“…In a more rural setting, Ellender et al (2010a) estimated anglers harvested 88 t·y -1 from the Gariep Dam, situated on the provincial boundary between the Eastern Cape and Free State Provinces. Ellender et al (2010a;2010b) demonstrated that this harvest contributed directly to the livelihoods of some 450 anglers whose primary motivation for angling was subsistence. Subsequent household surveys, in the rural settlements of Venterstad in the Eastern Cape and Hydro Park in the Free State, revealed that 56% of households contained at least 1 angler and that fish contributed significantly to the diet even in non-fishing households (Ellender et al, 2010b).…”

“…Ellender et al (2010a;2010b) demonstrated that this harvest contributed directly to the livelihoods of some 450 anglers whose primary motivation for angling was subsistence. Subsequent household surveys, in the rural settlements of Venterstad in the Eastern Cape and Hydro Park in the Free State, revealed that 56% of households contained at least 1 angler and that fish contributed significantly to the diet even in non-fishing households (Ellender et al, 2010b). In these non-fishing households, fish was purchased from anglers who sold their excess catch (Ellender et al, 2009).…”

“…In these non-fishing households, fish was purchased from anglers who sold their excess catch (Ellender et al, 2009). Ellender et al (2010b) therefore recommended that the value of angling for communities near impoundments should be taken into consideration when developing inland fisheries. This is particularly relevant because there is increasing evidence that subsistence-motivated angling is becoming an important use of South African impoundments (Weyl et al, 2007;Ellender et al, 2009;2010b;Tapela et al, 2015).…”