Understanding Angler Attitudes, Motivations and Preferences for Florida's Saltwater Fisheries

An important goal of recreational fisheries management is to maintain and improve angler satisfaction. This task can become increasingly complicated by angler diversity in terms of social and economic characteristics, experience, expectations and motivations. A thorough understanding of angler diversity and the relationship between angler characteristics and management opinions is important for sustaining high-quality recreational fishing opportunities for the public but is lacking in Florida. To address this knowledge gap, we have implemented an online stakeholder survey following the Dillman method. The survey was sent to a random sample of Florida’s saltwater fishing license holders that provided an email at the time of license purchase. Regression and cluster analysis will be used to explore the data collected providing a means for identifying angler typologies and evaluating the relationship between management preferences and angler characteristics including participation, motivations, catch preferences and demographics. We expect angling specialization will be well-defined by motivation, experience, investment and resource use and the participants’ stated management preference will be influenced by a suite of angler characteristics. This work will help agencies make better management decisions and improve angling opportunities for the public.