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Visitor Policies and Practices at Public Trout and Salmon Hatcheries in North America
Author(s) -
Barnes Michael E.,
Whelan Gary E.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
fisheries
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.725
H-Index - 79
eISSN - 1548-8446
pISSN - 0363-2415
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8446(2004)29[16:vpapap]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - fishery , trout , hatchery , fishing , license , visitor pattern , fish hatchery , fish <actinopterygii> , population , geography , rainbow trout , socioeconomics , aquaculture , fish farming , demography , biology , political science , sociology , law , computer science , programming language
A questionnaire concerning human visitation at public fish hatcheries in the United States and Canada was distributed in 2001 and 2002. Responses were received from 149 public trout and salmon fish hatcheries in 32 states and 2 provinces. Annual visitation reported ranged from 0 to 750,000 with mean visitation in the United States at 35,000 people per year. Over 70% of the state hatcheries indicated visitation at less than 10,000 per year. Hatchery visitation was significantly and positively correlated with fishing license sales and total population from each state or province. Almost 50% of the hatcheries at least partially restricted visitor access for a wide variety of reasons. Of the hatcheries that did not restrict visitation at all, 37% cited educational reasons. Visitation practices and policies varied greatly, except in some of the states with mandated uniform visitation policies.