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This study aimed to assess the suitability of the Berkowitz' (2005) social norms approach (SNA) for improving compliance behaviour amongst recreational fishers. A total of 138 recreational shore anglers were interviewed in Eastern Cape, South Africa and asked about their compliance, attitudes towards compliance, perceptions of compliance and the attitudes of other anglers. Results indicate that angler compliance for individual regulations was relatively high (75%–90%). Attitudes of anglers towards compliance was positive, with >80% feeling that “breaking any regulation is wrong.” Yet, as predicted by the SNA, interviewees often overestimated the non-compliance and negative attitudes of other anglers, particularly as their social proximity decreased. Interviewees with the greatest misperceptions were also less compliant. The social norms present in the Eastern Cape rock and surf fishery fulfil the criteria required for the application of the SNA, suggesting that this approach may provide a suitable normative intervention for improving compliance to be used in conjunction with instrumental approaches in recreational fisheries.

This paper presents conclusions and recommendations that emerged from the 7th World Recreational Fishing Conference (WRFC) held in Campinas, Brazil in September 2014. Based on the recognition of the immense social and economic importance of recreational fisheries coupled with weaknesses in robust information about these fisheries in many areas of the world, particularly in many economies in transition, it is recommended to increase effort to build effective governance arrangements and improve monitoring and assessment frameworks in data-poor situations. Moreover, there is a need to increase interdisciplinary studies that will foster a systematic understanding of recreational fisheries as complex adaptive social-ecological systems. To promote sustainable recreational fisheries on a global scale, it is recommended the detailed suggestions for governance and management outlined in the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization Technical Guidelines for Responsible Fisheries: Recreational Fisheries are followed.

The paucity of long-term marine recreational fisheries data limits understanding of the effects of exploitation on target species. Long-term catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) datasets for a large piscivorous carangid species, Lichia amia (L.), from 3 South African recreational fishery sectors were examined. Although standardised CPUE for all sectors showed an overall long-term decline, there was considerable variability in trends between the recreational sectors and between datasets. Contrasting trends between competitive shore angling and general shore angling datasets were ascribed to hyperstability in competition CPUE data, which was most influenced by rapidly improving technology, techniques and communication networks amongst anglers. Month and locality were significant factors explaining the probability of catching L. amia. This suggests that the predictable aggregation behaviour of this species could further compound the observed CPUE hyperstability. Although the CPUE responded positively for 6 years after implementation of the first minimum size and bag limits, and for 1 year after the decommercialisation of the species, these regulations and their amendments failed to arrest a long-term decline in CPUE despite ample evidence for hyperstability. Additional regulations, including a spatio-temporal closure and the implementation of a voluntary regulation framework of catch and release, are recommended for this species.

Despite recreational fisheries serving as a prime example of a coupled social–ecological system, much of the research on such fisheries has been monothematic in orientation and focused either on fisheries ecology or human dimensions. An attempt was made to break down some of the barriers to more interdisciplinary research on recreational fisheries at the 6th World Recreational Fishing Conference. The overall conclusion was that future research and management efforts should increasingly focus on the feedbacks between the interacting human and ecological components of recreational fisheries. Doing so promises to improve understanding of how recreational fisheries respond to social–ecological change. In this context, the behaviour of both fishes and humans provides an important, yet often overlooked, integrator of the ecological and social components of recreational fisheries. A better understanding of the behavioural dynamics of recreational fishers as well as exploited fishes will help predict how recreational fisheries change, evolve, adapt and reorganise through time to maintain resilience and achieve sustainability on a global scale.

The home range and area use of spotted grunter, Pomadasys commersonnii (Haemulidae) (Lacepede), were investigated in the Great Fish estuary, South Africa. Forty individuals (263–698 mm TL) were surgically implanted with acoustic-coded transmitters and manually tracked during two periods in 2003. Tagged fish spent on average 68 and 77% of the time in the estuary and the remaining time at sea during the two periods, respectively. While in the estuary, there was large variation in home range size, home range length and the number of home range areas amongst individuals. Larger fish had larger home ranges and more core areas than smaller fish. The home ranges of 29 individuals (74%) occurred in the lower reaches of the estuary, suggesting that the proclamation of a no-take zone in this high use area could benefit this over-exploited estuarine fishery species.