The Recreational Angler As Ecosystem Steward

The sustainable use of aquatic ecosystems requires the participation of multiple stakeholders in a management regime that facilitates the stewardship of a common resource. For recreational anglers, aquatic stewardship manifests in individual behaviors and beliefs that support conservation policy and minimize individual impacts on aquatic resources. In the present investigation we draw on Identity Theory to operationalize aquatic stewardship and understand the factors that lead to participation in stewardship behaviors among recreational anglers in Texas. Data are drawn from a survey of licensed anglers for the 2014-2015 license year (n=1,044). We hypothesize that the salience of an individual’s identity as an angler is the primary driver of stewardship attitudes and behaviors. We test a model where angler identity predicts an awareness of the consequences of ones actions, a responsibility to minimize the harm of those actions, and a personal norm (PN) to conserve aquatic resources. We hypothesize that the angler identity and PN have direct effects on stewardship behaviors. Stewardship behaviors are operationalized in three dimensions; private sphere, public sphere, and social stewardship. Results indicate that PN is a significant predictor of private sphere behaviors and identity is significantly related to public sphere and social stewardship actions.