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Zachary S Feiner, Alexander W Latzka, Max H Wolter, Lawrence D Eslinger, Gene R Hatzenbeler, Assessing the Rage Against the Machines: Do Ice Anglers’ Electronics Improve Catch and Harvest Rates?, Fisheries, Volume 45, Issue 6, June 2020, Pages 327–333, https://doi.org/10.1002/fsh.10427
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Fishing and Technology
From the development of paleolithic fish hooks, spears, and nets to today's powerful motors and high‐tech sonar, new fishing technology has usually been accompanied by increases in total effort and catch (Jackson 2001). Thus, angler innovation represents a possible mechanism driving hyperstability in catch rates and lack of self‐regulation in fisheries (Tidd et al. 2017), sometimes leading to fisheries collapses (Post et al. 2002). However, relatively little research has examined how technology impacts recreational fisheries, despite widespread acceptance of technology among recreational anglers (Bruskotter and Fulton 2008).
Two technological advances may be tipping the scales in anglers’ favor. First, improved availability of information (e.g., smartphones, websites, and apps) can help identify transient fishing “hotspots” (Papenfuss et al. 2015). Second, advances in electronics used while fishing (e.g., GPS, sonar, underwater cameras) help find fish, observe behavior, and detect strikes (Figure 1). These developments have raised concerns among anglers that technology‐aided enhancements in angler efficiency could cause overexploitation of popular fisheries (Lindner 2019), leading to uncertainty about their widespread adoption (Bruskotter and Fulton 2008). To our knowledge, there has been no assessment of the impact of electronics, such as GPS, underwater cameras, or sonar devices, on recreational fisheries, even though such information would be crucial to management.
