Approaches to Estimate Catch and Effort by Foreign Anglers in a Widely Dispersed and Non-Licensed Recreational Fishery - A Norwegian Case Study

Recreational angling has become an increasingly important part of the Norwegian tourism industry and may contribute significantly to the fishing mortality of the Norwegian coastal cod (Gadus morhua) stock, which might presently be overfished. A national probability-based survey was conducted during 2009 to estimate the harvest of cod and eight other species targeted by marine angling tourists in Norway. That study was restricted to the business sector of the marine angling tourism, and did not include the informal sector (e.g. unregistered private cottages or recreational vehicles). Since there is neither a complete registry of accommodations offering housing for marine angling tourists, nor any other information which could be used to track foreign angling tourists in Norway (e.g. by licenses), it is difficult to conduct a cost-effective survey of the entire marine angling tourism. This is further complicated by the very long coastline of Norway extending over 25,000 km (excluding islands) and the free access to the sea. To estimate the relative size of each sector with respect to total fishing effort and harvest we conducted (a) a local roving creel survey in Aust-Agder, Southern Norway and (b) an internet survey in two German angling forums. In addition, a study in collaboration with the Norwegian Coast Guard study was conducted. The surveys indicated that a relatively large proportion of marine angling tourists stay in private cottages, of which many are part of the business sector. Moreover, the internet survey indicated that the CPUE in the business sector is higher than in the informal sector in Northern Norway. A comparison of the survey results to the national probability-based survey with respect to the business sector showed that these methods can be useful to collect information on catch and effort in a widely dispersed and non-licensed recreational fishery. However, to develop a sustainable management plan for the marine angling tourism in Norway, more research effort is needed to map the entire marine angling tourism and to estimate total harvest in the informal sector independently.