Stewart, D. R., G. D. Scholten, T. N. Churchill, and J. M. Fly. 2012. Angler opinions regarding catfish management in Tennessee. Proceedings of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies 66:88-93.
Abstract
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency conducted a statewide survey on licensed catfish anglers to investigate angler opinions of catfish management before (2000) and after (2005- 2006) amending catfish regulations. Tennessee catfish anglers were comprised of “harvest-oriented” and “trophy” catfish angling sub-groups, which had dissimilar views related to restrictions on harvest of trophy size fish (> 864 mm TL). Although both groups supported release of trophy-size fish before the regulation change, albeit at different levels, support increased after a maximum size-limit was implemented. This project demonstrated that support for regulations increased after implementation and was consistent among disparate user groups.