Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Missouri
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Existing data sets are valuable because they can have a broad geographic footprint and/or long-term data that cannot be collected in a short duration research or monitoring effort. Many agencies compile data from recreational anglers because recreational fishing has great social and ecological importance in the U.S. In 2020 alone, more than 42 million people participated in freshwater fishing. However, climate change may affect the numbers, sizes, and species of fish available to anglers. Agencies tasked with managing fisheries often keep records of angler catch and harvest to better manage fisheries. Existing tools can be used to determine how fish species important to anglers may change in growth or abundance, which may dictate if anglers even pursue these species in the future. Our proposed work will use existing data in the “CreelCat” and “FiCli” databases coupled with ongoing studies to relate regionwide trends in angler effort, catch, and harvest to environmental metrics. This work can help inform management strategies for predicted fish and angler behavior in a changing climate.