FISHING MOTIVATIONS AND PREFERENCES OF RECREATIONAL ANGLERS AT PAY-FISHING PONDS IN SERDANG, SELANGOR

This paper was presented during the AGRICULTURE CONGRESS which was held on the 13th-15th November 2018, at Serdang Malaysia, via an oral presentation by the authors. 

Mohammad-Saidi M.N. and Kamaruddin I.S.*

Department of Aquaculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.

*Email: izharuddin@upm.edu.my

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to understand the basic socio-demographic backgrounds and fishing motivations of anglers who fish at three pay-fishing ponds in Serdang, Selangor. This study also try to understand the angler’s preferences towards the non-native fish species. A set of survey questionnaire was used to collect anglers data with a face-to-face sampling technique. A total of 100 pay-fishing pond anglers were surveyed (62.5% of response rate). Seventy-four percent of the anglers are Malay, followed by Chinese (20.0%) and Indian anglers (6.0%). The highest group was represented by the age group of 30 to 39 years old (46.7%). Most of the anglers are self-employed (38.0%), have a certificate or Diploma (44.0%), and married (75.0%). In average, the anglers have 14.03±1.18 years (mean±S.E.) of fishing experience, and 7.39±0.70 years of fishing experience specifically at pay-fishing pond. The results of this study revealed that the highest fishing motivation placed by the anglers was ‘avoiding a moment from stress at work’ (4.49±0.05, from a Likert scale of 1 to 5) while the lowest motivation was ‘failed to catch a fish’ (1.78±0.12). Later, the fishing motivations could be categorized into four different groups, which related to the fishery resources, psychological, social and skill. The fishing motivations were found to be difference between different basic socio-demographic background groups of anglers. Meanwhile, in terms of the angler’s preferences towards the non-native species, most of the anglers preferred to catch patin (4.26±0.08) and baung (4.21±0.08), and they are less likely to catch keli (3.83±0.11). The findings of this research could provide some basic information about the pay-fishing pond anglers in Serdang, and could be used as a basis for the managers to better manage recreational fishing activity at pay-fishing ponds in Malaysia.

INTRODUCTION

During the past decades, many researchers have focused mainly on the ‘catch’ aspects of sport fishing (Kyle et al. 2007; Magee et al. 2018). Fedler and Ditton (1994) searched ‘why does the angler choose to go fishing?’ and they revealed that the anglers follow their ‘sport’ spirit of fishing. Meanwhile, most scientific studies related to the angler’s motivations suggested that fishing experiences involve many dimensions besides catching fish (Fedler and Ditton 1994; Sutton 2007). However, studies on the aspects of catching fish and fishing motivations of anglers currently are limited (Beardmore et al. 2011).

Valid reasons exist for studying angler’s motivations. Not only the managers could understand the basic element of fishing motivations among anglers, also they are able to be more specific and effective in providing program and activities that suits to the angler’s needs (Fedler and Ditton 1994; Finn and Loomis 2001). For example, if a group of anglers is highly interested to ‘catch a lot of fish’ but has lower interest on ‘bring fish home’, managers could place more effort towards programs such as catch-and-release fishing and focuses more on stocking programs in the natural waters (Finn and Loomis 2001; Arlinghaus et al. 2007; Hutt et al. 2008). Consequently, by ignoring angler’s motivations, managers might not be able to provide appropriate balance of angling opportunities to meet the angler’s needs (Fedler and Ditton 1994; Finn and Loomis 2001). This is importance due to fishing motivations are strongly connected to the expected outcomes or satisfaction seek by the anglers, which result from their angling participation (Fedler and Ditton 1994; Sutton 2007).

In Malaysia, fishing activity at pay-fishing ponds is an emerging activity and industry in the field main question that always arises is, why does the angler choose to go fishing at a pay-fishing pond? It is important to obtain this information in order to serve this sub-group of anglers better. To be specific, who are these anglers and why they go for fishing? This includes information about their age, employment, level of education and income.

The next question arises if different socio-demographic group of anglers have different fishing motivations and preferences towards the non-native fish species. The justification behind this is that many pay-fishing pond’s owners introduced the non-native species to attract more anglers to fish at their ponds. Exotic species are generally strong and resistance to the environment (Alves et al. 1999), and have different fighting element when caught. Some examples of the non-native species that being stocked in Malaysia are Pangasius catfish, Mekong, rohu and Lee Koh. It is believed that the non-native species provides anglers with different level of fishing experiences. However, if the non-native species escaped to the natural waters, they may severely impacted to the natural environment and could threaten the local or native fish species at the habitat (Alves et al. 1999).

In the field of recreation, recreationists were strongly motivated by four principal factors: temporary escape, achievement, exploration, and the experience of natural settings, while in recreational fishing, four categorization of fishing motivations exist (Fedler and Ditton 1994). These include; the fishery resources, psychological, social and skill. It is importance to understand the angler’s fishing motivations so that the managers are able to manage the groups of anglers better, by understanding their needs and desires related to fishing. Therefore, this study tried to determine the basic socio-demographic backgrounds, fishing motivations and preferences towards the non-native species among the pay-fishing pond anglers in Serdang, Selangor.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study was conducted between January to March 2018. The study was conducted at three pay-fishing ponds in Serdang, namely the Coffee Village Fishing Pond, Taman University Fishing Pond and Minlon Fishing Pond. The fishing ponds were selected based on a simple random sampling technique between all fishing ponds that available in the Serdang area. Similarly, the day and time of the sampling were also conducted using a simple random sampling technique, where the ponds were visited randomly for data collection. The ponds were visited twice a week, with a 4-hour effort, from 8.00 pm to 12.00 pm at each visit. All anglers who fished at the fishing ponds were approached to answer to the survey questionnaire.

The questionnaire used three type of question structures. First, the categorical question requires anglers to select one of the options or categories provided (e.g. the angler’s race, educational level). Second, the discrete question, which requires anglers to provide their answers in numbers or words (e.g. income and age). Third, a scalar-type of question, which utilizes the 5-point Likert scale question that range from 1 (most negative) to 5 (most positive) attitudes or preferences, with 3 being the neutral. The Likert scale-type of question is the primary tool to measure angler’s fishing motivations, and preferences toward the non-native species. The analysis that were conducted to utilize angler’s data include means, standard deviations, frequencies, range and a one-way ANOVA. All the data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

There were 100 pay-fishing pond anglers who responded to the survey questionnaire. These 100 anglers represent 62.5% of the response rate. Majority of the anglers were Malay (74.0%) and this was followed by Chinese (20.0%) and Indian anglers (6.0%). The proportions of the pay-fishing pond anglers based on their age revealed that most of the anglers were aged between 30 to 39 years old (47.0%). This was followed by the 40 to 49 years old group (32.0%), 20 to 29 years old (15.0%) and 50 years old and above group of anglers (6.0%). Most of the pay-fishing pond anglers in this study were self-employed (38.0%) and work with the government sector (32.0%). Some of them also work with the private sector (26.0%) and were still studying (4.0%). The educational levels of the anglers indicated that most of the anglers obtained a certificate or diploma (44.0%), having a bachelor’s degree (27.0%), finished the secondary school (25.0%), while some of them have no formal education (4.0%). Most of the anglers were married(75.0%), and the rest (25.0%) were single. Basic socio-demographic data were importance to the managers to realize the existence of different sub-group of anglers that presence in their managerial fishing areas, which may differ in their fishing motivations (Arlinghaus et al. 2008). Furthermore, the idea of ‘average anglers do not exist’ is supposed to be fully supported (Fedler and Ditton 1994; Hutt and Bettoli 2007).

In average, the anglers have spent for 14.03±1.18 years for fishing. This comprises of those who just started and those who have been fishing in the past 61 years. Most of the anglers were grouped under the ‘10 years and below’ experience group (53.0%). Meanwhile, the anglers have been fishing at pay-fishing pond for an average of 7.39±0.70 years. Among this, 83.0% of them were in group of ‘10 years and below’ of experience. Fishing experience related information is needed for the managers to manage different fishing opportunities to different group of anglers based on their level of fishing experiences (Arlinghaus et al. 2008; Magee et al. 2018).

Results for the fishing motivations in this study revealed that the main reasons for the pay-fishing pond anglers go for fishing was to ‘avoid a moment from stress at work’ (4.49±0.05). This was followed by a motivation of to ‘spend time with friends’ (4.39±0.06). Meanwhile, the least fishing motivation placed by the pay-fishing pond anglers was ‘failed to catch a fish’ (1.78±0.12). The fishing motivation items also indicated that the motivations for the pay-fishing pond anglers in this study could be categorized into four types of motivations. This includes the fishery resources, psychological, social and skill. It is common for anglers to get away from their daily routine, especially their busy working life, to conduct fishing and other recreation related activities (Fedler and Ditton 1994; Sutton 2007).

For the fishery resources type of motivation, anglers prefer to ‘catch a very large and extraordinary fish’ (4.20±0.06), ‘release all captured fish’ (4.03±0.41), and ‘catch as many fish possible’ (4.01±0.08). However, they prefer not to ‘catch one or two fish’ (2.18±0.12) and dislike if they ‘failed to catch a fish’ (1.78±0.12). Meanwhile, for the psychological type of fishing motivation, the pay-fishing pond anglers went fishing mainly to ‘avoid a moment from stress at work’ (4.49±0.05), and this was followed by ‘fleeing a moment from the bustle of the city’ (4.32±0.06), and ‘enjoy the surrounding’ (4.20±0.06). For the social type of fishing motivation, the angler’s reasons for fishing were mainly to ‘spend a quality time with family’ and to ‘spend a quality time with friends’ with mean values of (4.12±0.09) and (4.39±0.06), respectively. Finally, the skill type of fishing motivation indicated that they went fishing to ‘master the technique of fishing for themselves’ (4.30±0.08) and ‘teaching others to learn technique’ (3.71±0.09). Some of the fishing motivations were found to be varied between angler’s basic socio-demographic background groups. These were based on the angler’s age, employment, level of education and income groups (Table 1). Fedler and Ditton (1994) classify anglers in their study into similar four categories, and they found that the main contributing motivations among freshwater anglers to go fishing were to be outdoors, to get away from other people, and for family recreation.

On the other hand, the preferences of the pay-fishing pond anglers towards the non-native species indicated that the anglers preferred to catch patin (4.26±0.08) while fishing. This was followed by baung (4.21±0.08), rohu (4.15±0.08), tongsan (4.09±0.09), pacu (4.07±0.08), Lee Koh (4.02±0.08) and Mekong (4.00±0.10). However, they placed neutral to keli (3.83±0.11). Pangasius catfish (patin) was placed importance by the anglers probably due to its size and fighting characteristic. Meanwhile, the walking catfish (keli) is one of the most common exotic species stocked by the managers for sport fishing (Alves et al. 1999), and the species was an easy target for the novice group of anglers.

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