Fish Viewing

In the Journal of Ecotourism 2009; Stroll, Ditton, and Stokes have published an article about sturgeon viewing as nature tourism.  It is an interesting read and is my first look at fish viewing. Any time I have viewed fish as either been from a boat while fishing or at a zoo or aquarium. As the paper states in recent years there has been a decline in the participation in consumptive leisure activities such as fishing and hunting and increased rates of participation in non-consumptive activities such as bird watching, watchable wildlife, and even fish viewing. Some reasons for this include people being less interested in wildlife as harvestable products or that the baby boomer generation is getting older.  But the numbers are up on the amount of time people spend viewing animals in their natural habitat outside of going to zoos or aquariums. Since fish viewing is a relatively new non-consumptive leisure activity it may be a good idea to look at what it is first. Fish viewing can be done in both freshwater and saltwater.  With freshwater it mostly takes place around streams and rivers like watching sockeye salmon along the banks of the Adams River in British Columbia. Usually viewing takes place along the banks, from towers set up for viewing, or from viewing windows built into the bank. Where as saltwater usually involves scuba equipment.

As stated earlier I was unaware of this type of leisure activity, I have heard and participated in bird watching and gone to zoos and aquariums.  But if I want to see a fish, I want to be more involved than just looking. I want to catch the fish. Not necessarily to harvest my catch for food. Sometime I just like to take a picture of the fish and release it back into the wild.  This is where I differ from most of the people in the above study. Those polled were found to be mostly views of fish. Only 14% went spear fishing (done in Wisconsin during certain seasons while fishing for sturgeon) and 8% to be rod and reel gear (Stroll, 2009).

As far as the decline of fishing and hunting among people in US, I would have to say that I would not fit in this particular group. If anything, I have actually gone fishing more than less. Granted this statistical data was from 2002.  This may have changed in the last ten years. But why would fishing and hunting be on the decline? There has been an influx of new fishing and hunting shows on TV. There are a number of fishing/hunting retailers that have a big investment on people going hunting and fishing, such as Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's. Along with the many other websites you can go to buy fishing lures from.  Vasts magazines on fishing techniques, fishing equipment, and the like.  As well as hunting magazines.  Many resorts and lodges have been set up for travelers to stay and rent/buy equipment, a guide, and other services to find the type of animal one is looking to hunt or fish.

The money spent associated with fishing and hunting may be why the sport is on the decline. Just purchasing a rod, reel, line and lures can get costly. Then there are storage devices for all the above. Most anglers don't just take one of each either. So the costs go up.If anyone has seen the costs associated with the newest lures on the market, they can tell you they are not cheap. Then you look at if you need a boat. And you need a license for each state that you are participating in fishing. The same goes for hunting I would think as well.

With the decline of fishing in America and the rise of nature-based travel and tourism, fish viewing may be the new way to see fish in their natural habitat. This goes along with the governments requirements and regulations on fishing in public bodies of water. Making the catch and release a good thing for most anglers. Size restrictions, total number of certain number of fish, and the time of year you can fish for certain fish has been set in motion of some time now.  This can make some anglers upset, and want to stop fishing. Now a new path can be taken for those still wanting to see the fish. As for me, I will continue to fish and not over harvest.