Do Anglers Know What They Catch? Identification Accuracy and Its Effect on Angler Survey-Derived Catch Estimates

Abstract

Angler surveys are reliant on the ability of anglers to accurately report various aspects of their fishing trips. Misidentification of sport fishes has been postulated as a source of error among angler surveys but has received little attention. We evaluated the overall ability of anglers to identify sport fishes common to Ohio and the potential impacts on catch estimates derived from angler surveys. During angler surveys conducted on lakes and reservoirs (2007, n = 34) and Ohio River tailwaters (2010, n = 3), anglers were presented with artist-rendered images of 18 different sport fishes common to these waters. Anglers (lake and reservoir, n = 2,442; Ohio River, n = 458) were asked to identify sport fish by their common name. On average, anglers correctly identified sport fishes 42% of the time, but accuracy varied widely among species (lake and reservoir, range = 4.4–85.1%; Ohio River, range = 9.4–71.8%), with greater accuracy exhibited for the most common species (e.g., largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides). However, by grouping angler responses into species groups (e.g., black bass Micropterus spp., sunfish Lepomis spp.) angler identification of sport fishes was more reliable (lake and reservoir, mean = 83.4%; Ohio River, mean = 83.8%). Using these estimates of angler accuracy, we simulated the potential error in sport fish catch estimates using data from an angler survey conducted at one Ohio reservoir. These results suggested that misidentification error may result in a substantial error in catch estimates. A survey of North American fisheries management agencies regarding angler surveys and angler sport fish identification revealed that the majority of agencies group similar species for analysis and cited species misidentification by anglers as the primary reason for doing so.

Received April 19, 2012; accepted August 17, 2012

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Funding for this project was made possible by the Sport Fish Restoration Act Project F-69-P (Fish Management in Ohio). We thank the angler survey clerks that collected the data for this study and the staff at the Inland Fisheries Research Unit for providing critical reviews of an earlier draft of this manuscript.