Explaining attitudes to management actions and beliefs about other user groups and conservation with angler characteristics: A case study in a coastal pike (Esox lucius) fishery in the southern Baltic Sea, Germany

Understanding the attitudes of recreational anglers towards regulations and other stakeholders is important to inform fisheries management actions. We investigated the relationship of salient angler characteristics, specifically, specialization, catch orientation, place attachment and demographics, and the attitudes and beliefs regarding conservation and management of the northern pike (Esox lucius) stock inhabiting the lagoon ecosystems around the island of Rügen, Germany, in the southern Baltic Sea. The stock is currently in decline and stakeholder conflicts have escalated. Human dimensions data were gathered in an online survey where 1,965 anglers generated complete answers. Angler specialization (specifically behavioural and psychological commitment), selected catch orientations (release orientation and catch something construct), place attachment, and demographics (particularly age, residency, and education) were consistent correlates of attitudes toward management and conservation of northern pike. Anglers with a strong release orientation were more likely to express positive attitudes to their own harvest constraints, while more committed anglers held more negative beliefs about the behaviour of commercial fisheries, anglers, and conservation activity. Addressing local anglerfisher-conservation conflicts currently present in the Rügen pike fishery can best be achieved by targeting the more specialized, release-oriented, old, highly place-attached angler segments because these angler types have the highest degree of conflict sensitivity with other user groups and with conservation while at the same time accepting regulations more that minimize the impacts of fishing and angling on the fishery resource.