Documented and Potential Biological Impacts of Recreational Fishing: Insights for Management and Conservation

While the impacts of high exploitation on fish populations and aquatic ecosystems are well-documented for commercial fishing, particularly in the marine environment, the potential biological impacts of angling received less attention.

This paper discusses angling patterns within a framework of basic ecological and evolutionary literature and examines potential biological impacts of angling by focusing on study results associated with high exploitation rates and pronounced selective exploitation. The impacts range from impacts occurring directly on the exploited species (truncation of the natural age and size structure, depensatory mechanisms, loss of genetic variability, evolutionary changes), to those that occur on the aquatic ecosystem (changes in trophic cascades, trait-mediated effects). As a third category, impacts related to the angling activity per se are distinguished (habitat modifications, wildlife disturbance, nutrient inputs, loss of fishing gear).

Although the main threats to fish often are localized outside recreational fisheries, there is growing evidence that angling and angling associated activities can lead to a decline of fish populations and affect aquatic ecosystems in various ways provided that the degree of the fishing mortality is high and the selective exploitation is intensive. In conclusion, management implications for sustainable recreational fisheries and areas for future research are outlined.

Keywords:

• angling
• biodiversity
• catch-and-release
• ecological impacts
• exploitation
• evolutionary changes
• fish community
• genetic diversity
• littoral habitat
• recreational fishing
• wildlife

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the colleagues from the research and development project “Principles for Sustainable Inland Fisheries Management” at Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries for helpful discussions, to the numerous scientists around the world that provided the material presented in this article, and to the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments to improve the manuscript. The study was in part financially supported by the Bundesamt für Naturschutz (BfN), Germany (F&E-Vorhaben Naturschutzfachliche Konkretisierung einer “guten fachlichen Praxis” in der Binnenfischerei).

Notes

***severe threat to fish communities and ecosystems due to low reversibility, sophisticated management approaches required.

**medium severe effects

*effects of primarily local importance, reversible and easier to manage.