Impacts of Daily Bag Limit Reductions on Angler Effort in Wisconsin Walleye Lakes

Abstract

Angler effort is an important factor affecting recreational fisheries. However, angler responses are rarely incorporated into recreational fisheries regulations or predictions. Few have attempted to examine how daily bag limit regulations affect total angling pressure and subsequent stock densities. Our paper develops a theoretical basis for predicting angler effort and harvest rate based on stock densities and bag limit regulations. We examined data from a management system that controls the total exploitation of walleyes Sander vitreus (formerly Stizostedion vitreum) in northern Wisconsin lakes and compared these empirical results with the predictions from a theoretical effort and harvest rate response model. The data indicated that higher general angler effort occurs on lakes regulated with a 5‐walleye daily limit than on lakes regulated with either a 2‐ or 3‐walleye daily limit. General walleye catch rates were lower on lakes with a 5‐walleye limit than on lakes with either a 2‐ or 3‐walleye daily limit. An effort response model predicted a logarithmic relationship between angler effort and adult walleye density and that an index of attractiveness would be greater on lakes with high bag limits. Predictions from the harvest rate model with constant walleye catchability indicated that harvest rates increased nonlinearly with increasing density. When the effort model was fitted to data from northern Wisconsin, we found higher lake attractiveness at 5‐walleye‐limit lakes. We conclude that different groups of anglers respond differently to bag limit changes and that reliance on daily bag limits may not be sufficient to maintain high walleye densities in some lakes in this region.

Overlooked biological and economic implications of within-season fishery dynamics

“…Some fisheries in the European Union are managed through monthly catch quotas that are constant or near-constant (Goodlad 2005; Marine Management Organisation 2013). Many recreational fisheries have daily bag limits, which leads to near-constant catch rate if the bag limit is restrictive and if the numbers of fishers do not vary too much (e.g., Cockcroft et al 2002;Beard et al 2003). Note that in nonschooling species constant catch rate may require strong increases in effort (Figure 1).…”

Historical framework to explain long-term coupled human and natural system feedbacks: application to a multiple-ownership forest landscape in the northern Great Lakes region, USA

“…Although human groups are often represented as homogeneous entities in system models, people have numerous, often conflicting, motivations, even within the smallest group (Beard et al 2003). No model can include all these varied motives, yet it is important to incorporate at least some of the social complexity.…”

Self-imposed length limits in recreational fisheries

“…Anglers often use regulatory creel limits as a basis to measure their skill or assess the condition of a fishery (Snow, 1982;Noble and Jones, 1993) and the restrictiveness of a regulation can affect angler satisfaction (Cook et al, 2001) and behavior (Beard et al, 2003). Though anglers are more satisfied with more attainable creel limits (Cook et al, 2001), the effect of a creel limit on the size of fish harvested and its interplay with the satisfaction of harvest is unknown.…”