The role of angling-guides in promoting pro-environmental catch-and-release attitudes and behaviours in the recreational angling community
- Authors: Farthing, Matthew William
- Date: 2022-04-08
- Subjects: Fishing , Fishing Catch effort , Fishing guides , Fishers , Human behavior , Role models
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/294583 , vital:57235 , DOI 10.21504/10962/294585
- Description: Angling-guides are respected as opinion leaders of the recreational angling community, but nothing is known of their influence on angler behaviour. Given their social-standing, angling-guides may be perceived as role-models by angling-clients – thereby promoting the adoption of best and/or poor catch-and-release (C&R) practices, depending on their individual knowledge, attitudes and behaviour. It is critical to understand their potential influence, their knowledge and their behaviours to inform effective intervention strategies which could exploit their extensive networking potential. The aim of this thesis was to better understand the potential utility of angling-guides in efforts to improve angler behaviour. Firstly, this was done by investigating whether angling-guides are perceived as role-models by angling-clients (Chapter 2). Secondly, it was done by assessing the current level of knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of angling-guides from around the world (Chapter 3). Thirdly, it was done by exploring the relationship between angling-guide knowledge, attitudes, intentions and actual behaviour in a case-study of guided-angling trips (Chapter 4). Lastly, it was done by exploring intervention frameworks and incorporating insights into potential strategies for promoting pro-environmental angling behaviours to angling-guides (Chapter 5). To understand if angling-guides are perceived as role-models by the recreational angling community (Chapter 2), a digital survey was designed to assess previous angling-clients’ attitudes towards angling-guides serving the three role-model functions proposed in the Motivational Theory of Role-Modelling, namely as Behavioural models, Representations of the Possible and Inspiration. Of the 492 angling-clients (27 countries), most agreed that angling-guides were competent, skilled, and worth emulating (91.1%), suggesting they are perceived as Behavioural Models. Less agreed that angling-guides were Inspirational or Representations of the Possible (54.8%), suggesting they are less likely to motivate anglers to adopt and/or pursue new goals. As Behavioural Models, angling-guide C&R practices are likely to be emulated, which is of both utility and concern to managers. As angling-guides are likely to be emulated, a digital survey was designed to assess their knowledge, attitudes and behaviours (particularly C&R best-practices) (Chapter 3). Of the 342 angling-guides (47 countries), few had accredited training (9.4%). However, most were deemed “knowledgeable of best-practices” (69.0%), but pervasive misconceptions of key C&R best-practices were observed. Attitudes towards best-practices were generally pro-environmental, and those deemed knowledgeable had significantly more pro-environmental attitudes (p = 0.003). Most angling-guides had pro-environmental attitudes towards their environmental responsibilities (87.1 - 89.5%), but these broad attitudes cannot predict specific pro-environmental behaviours during guided-angling trips where angler satisfaction is often at odds with best-practice. Angling-client satisfaction has important financial implications for angling-guides, and even those with pro-environmental intentions may struggle to adhere to C&R best-practices with inherent sacrifices for the angling-client’s enjoyment. Observation of behaviour in context is critical for understanding the behaviour to be changed. To explore the relationship between angling-guide knowledge, intentions and actual behaviour (Chapter 4), five angling-guides were observed (and filmed) interacting with groups of angling-clients during their guided-angling trips over a 30 day period. Five angling behaviours of interest were identified, and a survey focussed on these behaviours was disseminated (18 months later) to the five angling-guides previously observed to assess their knowledge, attitudes, reported behaviours and perceptions of the norm. Generally the subjects’ reported behaviours aligned well with their knowledge of best-practice, but their actual behaviour was not well aligned (24.4%). Instead, their actual behaviour aligned better with their perceptions of the norm (80.9%), which was generally a “worse” practice than what they reported. Angling-guides appeared to favour client-satisfaction over pro-environmental behaviour. Gaps between angling-guides’ knowledge of best-practice and their actual behaviour indicate that there may be obscure and complex barriers to pro-environmental angling-guide behaviour. Many barriers are seemingly impossible to overcome, such as economic limitations and financial disincentives. These barriers may limit the efficacy of traditional knowledge-attitude-behaviour (KAB) change interventions. The strong alignment of angling-guide behaviour with social norms, and the strong community orientation of recreational angling suggests that the Community-Based Social Marketing (CBSM) approach may be a more effective framework for interventions that aim to promote pro-environmental catch-and-release behaviours at angling-guide level. The CBSM approach allows interventionists to leverage a larger suite of cognitive biases than KAB approaches, provided that sufficient understanding of the context, barriers and benefits for a given segment of the angling-guide community (likely defined by style-of-participation) are obtained. Furthermore, the success of the CBSM approach will depend on the ability of interventionists to effectively recruit and incentivise disjunct and isolated communities of angling-guides to participate in training and workshops in order to achieve the important in-person contact on which the CBSM approach depends. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Ichthyology and Fisheries Science, 2022
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- Date Issued: 2022-04-08
Early stage ichthyofauna from shallow water habitats of the Angola-Benguela frontal zone
- Authors: Farthing, Matthew William
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Fishes -- Larvae -- South Africa -- Atlantic coast , Fishes -- Larvae -- Angola -- Atlantic coast , Striped mullet -- Angola -- Atlantic coast
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/50442 , vital:25988
- Description: Early stage fishes (larvae and early juveniles) were collected from an array of shallow water (±1.5m) habitats on the warm-temperate southern Angolan coastline between June 2014 and June 2015. This study, the first assessment of the early stages of coastal fishes in Angola, provides important new understanding of non-estuarine shallow water nursery habitat use by coastal fishes from the region. In total, 51 species from 18 teleost families were observed. The exposed surf zone was dominated by postflexion larvae, while the moderately exposed beach and sheltered bay were dominated by early juveniles. Both fish density and diversity peaked in the wet season (Feb – Apr 2015) for all habitats, attributed to the influx of summer spawning species. Diplodus sargus dominated catches from the exposed surf zone, and the timing of observations supports the growing consensus that sparid spawning is dictated by temperature, not season. The similitude of the observed species to those observed in warm temperate South Africa highlights the historical connection of the warm-temperate study area with warm-temperate South Africa, prior to the formation of the Benguela Current as a vicariant barrier. The classification of the study assemblage into established estuarine utilization categories showed that the surf zone hosted more exclusively marine species than comparable surf zones in South Africa, attributed to the absence of estuaries in southern Angola. However, the observation of the marine estuarine dependent Mugil cephalus in this study area devoid of estuaries suggests that estuarine dependency may be regionally specific for some taxa. It appears that the warm, sheltered, nutrient rich waters of Tombua Bay provide typically estuarine associated taxa with a suitable alternative, non-estuarine nursery habitat. This study provides evidence that the importance of estuaries as critical nursery habitats has been overemphasized for some warm-temperate coastal fishes. However, the absence of other marine estuarine dependent species from the study area suggests that some warm-temperate taxa do intrinsically rely on estuarine function for survival.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Age and growth of Cape stumpnose Rhabdosargus holubi (Pisces: Sparidae) in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Farthing, Matthew William , James, Nicola C , Potts, Warren M
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/122891 , vital:35365 , https://doi.org/10.2989/1814232X.2016.1156577
- Description: Rhabdosargus holubi (Steindachner, 1881) is a small (maximum size = 450 mm total length; Heemstra and Heemstra 2004) sparid that is distributed along the south-east coast of Africa from St Helena Bay, South Africa, to Maputo, Mozambique (Götz and Cowley 2013). Spawning occurs in the nearshore marine environment primarily during winter, specifically May–August in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) (Wallace 1975) and July–February in the South-Eastern Cape (Whitfield 1998). Individuals reach 50% sexual maturity at approximately 150 mm standard length (SL) in the Eastern Cape (Whitfield 1998). The early life stages are transported by the south-westward-flowing Agulhas Current, and recruit as post-flexion larvae and early juveniles into estuaries during late winter and early summer (Blaber 1974). The warm temperatures and high nutrient levels in estuaries favour fast growth (Blaber 1973a), and fish spend their first year of life in these environments, migrating back out to sea after reaching approximately 120 mm SL. Some individuals remain trapped in closed estuaries, where they may reach sizes greater than 200 mm SL (James et al. 2007a). Rhabdosargus holubi is the dominant estuarine-dependent marine teleost species recorded in permanently open and temporarily open/closed estuaries in the warm-temperate region, which spans the south, south-east and east coast of South Africa (Harrison 2005). The species is also an important component of the linefishery in many SouthAfrican estuaries (10–15.6% by number) (Pradervand and Baird 2002), particularly in Eastern Cape estuaries (Cowley et al. 2003). These figures underestimate the presence of R. holubi, as most individuals making use of estuaries are young, feeding predominately on filamentous macroalgae and diatom flora, and are generally too small to be caught with hook and line (De Wet and Marais 1990). James et al. (2007b) showed that R. holubi made up 34–92% of the annual seine-net catch in the East Kleinemonde Estuary. Rhabdosargus holubi is also important in the KZN shorebased linefishery, representing 4.6% of the total landed catch (Dunlop and Mann 2012).
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- Date Issued: 2016