Date of Award

May 2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Biology

First Advisor

Mark A. Kaemingk

Abstract

The future of conservation could hinge entirely on voluntary contributions of individualsand their relationship with landscape features. Conservation funding is becoming increasingly unstable, shifting from large non-governmental organizations to voluntary user-pay funded organizations. At the same time the natural world is experiencing dramatic changes, such as the global extinction crisis and widespread loss of biodiversity. User-pay-experience models, such as recreational fishing in North Dakota, are challenged by the uncertainty surrounding angler participation and license sales. Our objectives were to 1) investigate license purchasing dynamics among resident North Dakota recreational anglers to reveal potential angler license typologies, 2) compare trip-related behavior among previously identified angler license typologies, and 3) investigate angler response to landscape variation in angling quality and quantity.

For our first objective, we used a long-term 11-year dataset collected by the North DakotaGame and Fish Department to identify angler license purchasing heterogeneity. We identified three heterogeneous angler sub-populations (hereafter typologies) that differed among their license purchasing characteristics. Typology I was characterized as infrequently purchasing a recreational fishing license, when they did purchase a license it was primarily the annual resident fishing license type, and were the most abundant angler license typology. Typology II was characterized as purchasing a recreational fishing license approximately 50% of the time during the 11-year study period, and did not exhibit an affinity towards any single fishing license type. Typology III was characterized as frequently purchasing a recreational fishing license, when they did purchase a license it was primarily the combination hunting and fishing license type, and were the least abundant angler license typology. Identifying, quantifying, and tracking who contributes (i.e., purchases a license) may impact an organization’s funding resiliency and impact on conservation.

For our second objective, we compared trip-related behavior among the angler licensetypologies (identified in Objective 1). We used angler surveys distributed by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department for the 2017-2018 fishing seasons (i.e., open water and ice fishing). Angler surveys collected trip-related behavioral information, such as on-site behavior (e.g., effort), preferences (e.g., species seeking), and expenditures (e.g., distance traveled). We observed minimal trip-related behavioral differences among angler license typologies, and inferred a possible disconnection between license purchasing and trip-related angler behavior. However, the uncertainty surrounding intra-party dynamics (i.e., angler typologies may be fishing together) may explain our findings.

Angler license typologies (identified in Objective 1) were further used to investigateangler response (i.e., license sales) to changes in angling quality and quantity at the landscape (i.e. state) level. We used a suite of landscape-level variables (e.g., number of active waterbodies, stocking biomass, precipitation) collected from the North Dakota Game and Fish Department as well as open sources (e.g., Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc., North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network) for 4 years (2016-2019) to explain spatial (ZIP code) and temporal (annual) patterns in license sales. We constructed models using an Akaike Information Criterion approach and found that license sales (among all typologies) could only be marginally explained with the landscape variables we measured. However, the influence of angling quality and quantity on angler license sales may be highly dependent on contemporary opportunity, as well as social factors not yet identified. Understanding angler license purchasing heterogeneity and relationship with recreational trips or changes in angling quality and quantity may provide opportunities for management agencies to assess funding resiliency and effectively allocate limited resources.

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