The Business of Fishing: Use and Satisfaction of Anglers on a Large Reservoir

Fisheries management is shaped not only by ecology, but by politics, economics and sociocultural beliefs. Understanding the attitudes, desires and interests of user groups is one of the primary factors in fisheries management. South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks (GFP) strives to produce angler satisfaction ratings of 70% satisfied or better on Lake Oahe on the Missouri River; the state’s premier walleye fishery. Satisfaction ratings have ranged from 39-89% between 2001 and 2012. Although the fishery on Lake Oahe typically meets or exceeds objectives set by GFP, factors influencing satisfaction ratings are poorly understood. We used results from standardized angler satisfaction surveys completed on Lake Oahe from 2001-2012 to asses factors that drive satisfaction ratings. Ordinal logistic regression was used to build a set of a priori models and Akaike’s Information Criterion (AIC) was used to rank fitted models. The top model for explaining angler satisfaction included number of walleye harvested, percent of walleye caught that were harvested and time of year fished. Anglers fishing Lake Oahe were primarily harvest-oriented. Understanding factors that influence satisfaction ratings is important when developing and fostering support for management strategies.