부산대학교 도서관

Data on angler behaviour are conventionally collected by creel surveys. An innovative, cost-effective method is the use of smartphone applications for recreational anglers. Correlations were found between these citizen-reported data and the data from creel surveys. It is, however, unclear whether angler behaviour measured from the two sources is directly related, or the citizen-reported information can be obtained mainly from other "intermediate" variables. We used Bayesian networks to investigate this question for two management-related quantities, daily catch rate, and fishing duration, sourced from creel surveys and the MyCatch smartphone application in two river systems in Alberta, Canada. Environmental variables and website views of the waterbodies were included as possible intermediate variables. We found direct relationships between mean catch rates from creel surveys and smartphone applications. In contrast, the daily mean fishing durations were only indirectly related to intermediate variables "wind speed", "degree days" and "solar radiation". The study provides insight into the potential use of citizen-reported data to understand angler behaviour on a large scale.
Comment: 10 pages, 1 table, and 1 figure