Engaging Anglers in Oregon Marine Recreational Fisheries Management: How Do We Move Forward?

Managing Oregon’s marine recreational fisheries is complex, involving state, federal, and international processes, quotas, and regulations.  The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) works with our fisheries management partners and the public to develop, monitor, and manage these fisheries.  ODFW actively engages the public in state processes, and is often the conduit to federal and international processes.  Previously, public meetings have been a successful means of engaging and interacting with the public.  However, as people have more things competing for their time and energies, the quantity and quality of participation at public meetings has been fading.  Over the last three years, ODFW has been trying other outreach methods to supplement public meetings, including e-mail lists, online survey tools, and webcasting public meetings.  Although they have revived participation levels, one challenge presented by these tools, compared to traditional face-to-face interaction, is how to effectively explain complex issues and processes to anglers in a manner that will help them to provide informed feedback back to fisheries managers.  Successful use of these outreach methods may require new skills on the part of fishery managers, as well as modifying the message and public process to accommodate a more self-directed role by participants.