Per trip changes to the economic value of Ontario, Canada anglers fishing the Laurentian Great Lakes under target species transitions

ABSTRACT

Changing fish communities in the Laurentian Great Lakes could substantially affect how anglers value fishing trips. Using responses from licensed Ontario, Canada anglers to potential fishing trip options, we estimated changes to per-trip values for transitioning from a walleye (Sander vitreus) to a bass (Micropterus spp.) fishery, and from a Chinook Salmon (Oncorynchus tshawytscha) to a lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) fishery. These walleye and salmon transitions, respectively, were estimated to produce large per-trip losses for active ($64 and $35 CAD 2017) and potentially large losses for non-active but interested Great Lakes anglers ($29 and $34). These aggregate estimates masked significant differences among anglers. For example, a class of more-specialized, active anglers would lose more from walleye ($102) and from salmon ($46) transitions than would less specialized anglers ($19 and $2, respectively). These results confirm that fish community changes can strongly affect economic values among active and potential Great Lakes anglers.

KEYWORDS:

• Angler behaviors
• aquatic invasive species
• latent class choice model
• stated preferences

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission. We thank the anglers who completed the questionnaires and who participated in focus groups. We are also appreciative of the efforts of Allison Bannister, Harrison Craig, Lecia Makkinga, Jennifer Rodgers, Kyle Stratton, and the University of Wisconsin Survey Center for assisting with the questionnaire design, data entry, and basic analyses. We thank Rich Drouin and David Gonder for their insightful comments that helped us to greatly improve the manuscript. The constructive comments and suggested edits from a reviewer and the Associate Editor also were instrumental in helping to improve the manuscript and the main conclusions from the research.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission.