Aquaculture 2022

February 28 - March 4, 2022

San Diego, California

CAN RECREATIONAL ANGLERS HELP TO PREVENT THE SPREAD OF AQUATIC INVASIVE SPECIES (AIS)?

Yingkai Fang

fangy@uapb.edu

 



Invasive species are perceived to be a major threat to the biodiversity of the ecosystems by disrupting the balance of native ecosystems, causing great economic losses. To stop the spread of aquatic invasive species (AIS), management plans to maintain healthy ecosystems are necessary and the behavior of recreational water users, such as recreational anglers, is important as their travel between different recreational sites unconsciously provide convenience to aquatic species transferring to another ecosystem. However, an  environmentally responsible behavior of recreational anglers is highly likely to reduce the occurrence of AIS and avoid a great economic cost in the future to repair the environment. This paper investigates the economic values of recreational fishing sites according to different environmental qualities, testing whether leisure purposes, AIS knowledge, environmental awareness and attitudes, etc. are highly relevant to the recreational anglers’ behavior to prevent the spread of AIS .  A contingent valuation method is applied to ask respondents their attitudes to AIS, and their willingness to visit the recreational  fishing sites .  This study provides important policy implications  on establish ing  a sustainable management plan to protect the ecosystem , using the power of recreational anglers in preventing the spread of AIS.