In recent years, fishing has been decreasing in popularity both in Utah and nationwide. Because of this, there has been a reduction in funds and support for fisheries management, causing deterioration of once pristine fisheries. By understanding the motivations and environmental attitudes of the remaining anglers, fisheries managers can better manage areas to retain these anglers and attract new ones. This thesis presents research about the environmental attitudes and motivations of anglers in respect to specialization level. Findings presented in this thesis show anglers in Utah are members of one of three distinct angler specialization groups. The more specialized the anglers, the more aware they were of the environment. Comparison of consumptive and nonconsumptive anglers was also tested, without statistically significant results. Environmental orientations were tested between anglers and the general public as well. Respondents were placed on a continuum ranging from "strong utilitarian" to "strong preservationist." Most anglers, like most members of the public, clustered in the center of this continuum. Finally, motivations of anglers were compared across the three specialization groups, but only two of three motivation measures were found to be significantly different across angler specialization levels.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTAHS/oai:digitalcommons.usu.edu:etd-2419 |
| Date | 01 December 2012 |
| Creators | Unger, Joseph W., III |
| Publisher | DigitalCommons@USU |
| Source Sets | Utah State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | All Graduate Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | Copyright for this work is held by the author. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information contact Andrew Wesolek (andrew.wesolek@usu.edu). |
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