Factors influencing fishing participation by bass anglers residing in New York’s Lake Ontario Region Diane Kuehn Matt Brincka Valerie Luzadis SUNY College of Env. Science and Forestry Funding provided by NY Sea Grant

Purpose To identify the motivations, constraints, facilitators, and demographics influencing resident bass angler fishing participation.

Theoretical background Motivations: the “cognitive forces that drive people to achieve particular goal states” (Decker, Brown, & Siemer, 2001). Constraints: elements that intervene between leisure preferences and participation (Crawford and Godbey, 1987; Henderson, Stalnaker, and Taylor, 1988). Facilitators: the factors that “enable or promote the formation of leisure preferences and encourage participation” (Raymore, 2002).

Sample Random sample: 7,000 property owners from Lake Ontario counties 1,000 per county Survey conducted fall, 2009

Questionnaire Questions included: Species preference Demographics & experiential characteristics Motivations, constraints, facilitators

Survey questions Motivations “I go fishing…” Scale: -2 (strongly disagree) to 0 (neutral) to 2 (strongly agree) Constraints and facilitators “Does this factor limit or enable your fishing participation?” Scale: -2 (greatly limits) to 0 (neutral) to 2 (greatly enables)

Survey questions Participation Number of trips each year ( ) Average calculated Converted to categories: 0 = trips/year 1 = = 5.1 – 10 3 = 10.1 – 20 4 =

Methods Modified Tailored Design Method used (Dillman, 2007) Two Confirmatory factor analyses (EQS): Constraints and facilitators Motivations Stepwise linear regression

Response 5,580 in qualified sample 1,303 respondents (response rate = 23%): 681 anglers completed full survey 165 bass anglers (24% of anglers)

Bass Angler Demographics Age (average)57 years Education (avg.)15 years Gender91% male; 9% female Income$51, ,000: 47% Residence Participation (avg.) Rural: 69%; suburbs: 19%; city: 12% 15 trips/year

Confirmatory Factor analysis: Motivations Affiliation (0.845) Nature appreciation (0.879) Nurture (0.916) Personal achievement (0.831) Competition (0.881) Success (0.722) Satisfaction with catch (0.880) Escape (0.801) Root Mean-Square Error of Approx. (RMSEA) = 0.05 Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = (Cronbach’s alpha)

Confirmatory Factor analysis: Constraints & facilitators Health/Well-being (0.894) Past experience (0.894) Social support (0.779) Economic costs (0.815) Time (0.831) Access/Equipment (0.883) Level of knowledge (0.844) Level of interest (0.765) Level of commitment (0.822) Perceptions of environment (0.876) RMSEA = CFI = (Cronbach’s alpha)

Factor means: Motivations MotivationMeanMotivationMean Nature appreciation 1.3Escape0.6 Affiliation1.2 Satisfaction with catch 0.5 Personal achievement 1.0Success0.4 Nurture0.7Competition-0.9 Scale: -2 = strongly disagree, -1 = disagree, 0 = neutral, 1 = agree, 2 = strongly agree

Factor/Variable means: Constraints ConstraintMean Bad weather-0.8 Time-0.6 Perceptions of environment-0.3 Economic-0.1 Scale: -2 = greatly limits, -1 = limits, 0 = neutral, 1 = enables, 2 = greatly enables

Factor/Variable means: Facilitators FacilitatorsMean Good weather0.9 Social support0.7 Access & equipment0.6 Level of knowledge0.6 Level of interest0.5 Level of commitment0.4 Scale: -2 = greatly limits, -1 = limits, 0 = neutral, 1 = enables, 2 = greatly enables

Regression R 2 = F = p <.001 n = 127

Summary Motivations: Personal achievement Constraints: None Facilitators: Social support (-) Level of interest Level of commitment Experiential:If the angler fishes with a child

Management implications Bass anglers are very committed to bass fishing – not as dependent on social support as other angler groups. Efforts to increase skills, challenge, & interest will likely increase participation. Family-based fishing events may also increase participation.

Questions? Thanks to New York Sea Grant for funding this study!