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Audzijonyte A, Mateos-González F, Dainys J, Gundelund C, Skov C, Tyrell DeWeber J, Venturelli P, Vienožinskis V, Smith C. High-resolution app data reveal sustained increases in recreational fishing effort in Europe during and after COVID-19 lockdowns. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2023; 10:230408. [PMID: 37476517 PMCID: PMC10354473 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.230408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2023] [Accepted: 06/27/2023] [Indexed: 07/22/2023]
Abstract
It is well recognized that COVID-19 lockdowns impacted human interactions with natural ecosystems. One example is recreational fishing, which, in developed countries, involves approximately 10% of people. Fishing licence sales and observations at angling locations suggest that recreational fishing effort increased substantially during lockdowns. However, the extent and duration of this increase remain largely unknown. We used four years (2018-2021) of high-resolution data from a personal fish-finder device to explore the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on angling effort in four European countries. We show that relative device use and angling effort increased 1.2-3.8-fold during March-May 2020 and generally remained elevated even at the end of 2021. Fishing during the first lockdown also became more frequent on weekdays. Statistical models explained 50-70% of the variation, suggesting that device use and angling effort were relatively consistent and predictable through space and time. Our study demonstrates that recreational fishing behaviour can change substantially and rapidly in response to societal shifts, with profound ecological, human well-being and economic implications. We also show the potential of angler devices and smartphone applications for high-resolution fishing effort analysis and encourage more extensive science and industry collaborations to take advantage of this information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Asta Audzijonyte
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Tasmania, Australia
- Nature Research Centre, Akademijos 2, Vilnius, Lithuania
- Centre for Marine Socioecology, Tasmania, Australia
| | - Fernando Mateos-González
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Tasmania, Australia
- ALKA Wildlife, Lidéřovice, Czech Republic
| | - Justas Dainys
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Tasmania, Australia
| | - Casper Gundelund
- Section of Freshwater Fisheries and Ecology, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
| | - Christian Skov
- Section of Freshwater Fisheries and Ecology, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
| | - J. Tyrell DeWeber
- Potsdam Institute of Inland Fisheries, Im Königswald 2, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Paul Venturelli
- Department of Biology, Ball State University, Muncie 47306, IN, USA
| | | | - Carl Smith
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Tasmania, Australia
- Department of Ecology and Vertebrate Zoology, University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland
- Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic
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