Lotte van den Heuvel: When you happen to know a good spot: A study on recreational anglers' relationships to angling settings in Sweden

Abstract

Careful, responsible use of nature is required to halt the continuing degradation of ecosystems while fostering the invaluable relationships between humans and nature. Recreational angling (i.e. recreational fishing with rod and reel) can be a way for people to shape meaningful connections to nature, to other people, and to oneself, but if performed irresponsibly, the activity can pose a threat to already vulnerable ecosystems. In the search for responsible recreational fisheries, researchers have identified angler stewardship as a promising way forward that could safeguard the meaningful relationships between anglers and nature, while minimizing ecological impacts. One of the potential pathways from angling participation to angler stewardship that researchers have identified is sense of place, or the relationships between anglers and angling settings. In this thesis, I present an empirical examination of this pathway.

I used psychometric measurement scales, administered through quantitative, online angler surveys at two recreational fisheries in Sweden, to test the associations between various dimensions of angler diversity, anglers’ sense of place, and their intentions to support the angling setting through acts of loyalty and stewardship. I present my findings through four research papers. Paper I revealed the implications of angler diversity to anglers’ perceptions of fish stock trends at a river-fishing destination. Paper II showed how angling experience and residency status influenced the meanings and attachments anglers held for an island destination. Paper III and IV confirmed structural relationships between the anglers’ interpretations of the angling setting, their attachment to the setting, and their willingness to support the angling setting through acts of loyalty (III) and stewardship (IV). 

Based on my findings, I conclude that the responding anglers were attitudinally and behaviorally diverse, and that this diversity spilled over into their relationships to the angling setting. The angling activity, and their relationships to this activity, acted as a lens that shaped their interpretations of the angling setting and their sense of connectedness to this setting. The thesis shows that angling settings are meaningful places to which anglers can form lasting bonds that may motivate place-based supportive intentions. However, I found that these intentions depended on the anglers’ interpretations of the angling setting, which are subjected to (environmental) change. Overall, the thesis expands our knowledge of the role of sense of place as a potential pathway towards promoting angler stewardship and shaping responsible recreational fisheries.