Determining How Differences Between Avid and Lapsed Anglers Can Improve License Sales and Angler Satisfaction

A substantial proportion of anglers in British Columbia are lapsed, meaning that they do not purchase a license every year. Maintaining fishing license sales is an important objective of fisheries management and leads to stable revenue for conservation and management. To sustain participation, we must better understand the motives of lapsed anglers as well as differences between lapsed and frequent anglers. We employed a survey distributed to random British Columbian anglers stratified by participation (number of years purchasing a license). The survey included a questionnaire to better understand demographic variables that effect anglers’ purchasing decision and to evaluate how motives and barriers for anglers differ by dedication level. The survey also incorporated a choice experiment to determine differences in fishing site preferences among participation groups. As expected, the decision of lapsed anglers to purchase a license was very context specific, whereas avid anglers consistently purchase a license with little deliberation. Lapsed anglers considered the expected frequency of fishing in a year, available fishing companions and knowledge of fishing opportunities. Choice modeling work detected differences in fishing behaviors and was summarized in a decision support tool to help identify tactics that will improve license sales, fishing effort and overall utility.