Global responses to the COVID-19 pandemic by recreational anglers: considerations for developing more resilient and sustainable fisheries

Abstract

The global COVID-19 pandemic resulted in many jurisdictions implementing orders restricting the movements of people to inhibit virus transmission, with recreational angling often either not permitted or access to fsheries and/or related infrastructure being prevented. Following the lifting of restrictions, initial angler surveys and licence sales suggested increased participation and efort, and altered angler demographics, but with evidence remaining limited. Here, we overcome this evidence gap by identifying temporal changes in angling interest, licence sales, and angling efort in world regions by comparing data in the ‘pre-pandemic’ (up to and including 2019); ‘acute pandemic’ (2020) and ‘COVID-acclimated’ (2021) periods. We then identifed how changes can inform the development of more resilient and sustainable recreational fsheries. Interest in angling (measured here as angling-related internet search term volumes) increased substantially in all regions during 2020. Patterns in licence sales revealed marked increases in some countries during 2020 but not in others. Where licence sales increased, this was rarely sustained in 2021; where there were declines, these related to fewer tourist anglers due to movement restrictions. Data from most countries indicated a younger demographic of people who participated in angling in 2020, including in urban areas, but this was not sustained in 2021. These short-lived changes in recreational angling indicate eforts to retain younger anglers could increase overall participation levels, where eforts can target education in appropriate angling practices and create more urban angling opportunities. These eforts would then provide recreational fsheries with greater resilience to cope with future global crises, including facilitating the ability of people to access angling opportunities during periods of high societal stress. Angling efort · Angling licence · Angler demographics · Culturomics · COVID-19 lockdown