Recreation fisheries; Biological impacts; management and human dimensions

• Define recreational fishing including a description of different angling types/techniques.
• Explain different management strategies for recreational fishery, e.g. adaptive management.
• Describe and explain strengths and weaknesses of habitat restoration and fish stocking as management tools in recreational fisheries.
• Describe, compare, and explain the purpose and effects of different fishery control initiatives used to regulate harvest of target fish populations e.g. slot length, quota, minimum size limits, closed seasons, closed areas and critically review their efficiency.
• Present and discuss pros and cons of catch-and-release fishing (C&R) as a management tool and give specific guidelines to how mortality and sub-lethal effects in C&R fishing can be minimized (i.e., best practice).
• Describe, explain, and give examples of values and impacts of recreational fishing in terms of economics and human dimension aspects.
• Describe traditional and novel survey methods used to investigate different aspects of recreational fishing (e.g., fisheries metrics, biological information, human dimensions), explain their strengths and weaknesses, and provide survey design for specific fisheries.
• Explain angler heterogeneity using the recreation specialization framework, how it is measured and how it translates into angler behavior and the implications for management e.g., in terms of fishing trip motivation, consumption orientation and attitudes towards conservation and regulations.
• Give examples of different direct and indirect biological impacts of recreational fisheries on aquatic ecosystems.
• Produce management solutions to specific recreational fisheries management problems and explain the biological, socio economical and/or conservation arguments behind the advice.

Recreational fishing is a billion euro business which directly and indirectly impacts the ecology of aquatic ecosystems, e.g. through effects on the environment, food webs or on specific populations, as well as various human dimensions, e.g., in terms of social and economic processes and consequences. Moreover, when managing recreational fisheries it seems just as important to understand angler behavior as it is to understand population dynamics and behaviour of fish. Therefore, the interdisciplinary interaction between social and natural science holds the future for successful recreational fisheries management. The course will introduce adaptive management and the three tools in traditional recreational fishery management; fish stocking, habitat restoration and fishery regulation, with special focus on the latter (e.g. catch and release fishing, bag limits, closed seasons etc.) In addition, human dimensions, such as angler typology, behavior and demography, ethical costs, and socio-economic benefits to the community from angling will be addressed. Finally, a part of the course will be dedicated to introducing the methodologies that typically are used when investigating biological impacts and the human dimensions in recreational fishing.
The course will be a mixture of lectures, exercises, and self-study, all aligned with the learning objectives. In addition, the students will have to prepare written assignments, containing elements given by the teacher and others chosen by the student.

Autumn E3A (Tues 8-12) and Autumn E2B (Thurs 8-12)
Autumn – 6 weeks block course –
First 6 weeks of the 13-weeks period

Teaching methods will be lectures, group and individual exercises, group discussions and a written assignment. The written assignment will be part of the assessment and will include topics aligned with the learning objectives as well as a topic chosen by the student.

Minimum: 6.

Please be aware that this course will only be held if the required minimum number of participants is met. You will be informed 8 days before the start of the course, whether the course will be held.