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Recreational anglers as citizen scientists can provide data to estimate population size of pike, Esox lucius
Author(s) -
Karlsson Konrad,
Kari Elina
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
fisheries management and ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1365-2400
pISSN - 0969-997X
DOI - 10.1111/fme.12419
Subject(s) - pike , esox , fishing , fishery , recreation , mark and recapture , population , geography , catch per unit effort , population size , recreational fishing , fish <actinopterygii> , catch and release , ecology , biology , demography , sociology
Abstract Catch‐per‐unit‐effort is often used as an approximation of population size. However, for the management and conservation of populations, information about the number of individuals is fundamental. Pike, Esox lucius L., is a popular fish species for recreational anglers. In this study, data in the form of journal keeping by anglers were used: date; place; and photographs of the captured fish; pike were identified based on their natural markings in combination with length measurements. The data were analysed by spatial capture–recapture (SCR) models. Results showed that a small and densely vegetated lake (6.7 ha) in south‐eastern Sweden had a population size of 91 (±22 SE ) pike ≥60 cm. On one occasion, 10 individuals were caught, that is 11.1% of the population, highlighting that angling may potentially have a substantial impact on the population size. Hopefully, this study can inspire angler–manager collaborations for conservation of fish stocks.