Recreational angling demand in a mixed resource fishery

Several large Irish lake fisheries target both pike Esox lucius L. and brown trout Salmo trutta L. Due to predation on trout, pike stocks are actively managed in several locations with the objective of enhancing the trout fishery, which is a policy strongly supported by some trout anglers but intensely opposed by pike anglers. There is a dearth of economic knowledge to support management decisions concerning these mixed resource fisheries. This paper addresses some of that knowledge gap, investigating factors affecting angling recreational demand within these mixed resource fisheries and whether there are significant differences between pike and brown trout anglers. A travel cost model was used to estimate and test whether pike and trout anglers have different demand preferences. The substantive policy-relevant finding relates not to differences associated with target species but to angling club membership. Angling club members are more price inelastic in their demand and particularly so in the case of trout anglers.