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In many areas of North America, illegal hunting, fishing, and gathering of renewable natural resources are occurring with alarming and increasing frequency. Resource professionals, law enforcement officers, and the general public are becoming increasingly concerned about the poaching problem, as localized populations of wildlife, fish, and plant species are threatened with extirpation, and as legitimate users—consumptive and nonconsumptive alike—are deprived of resource utilization opportunities. An important step toward developing more effective environmental education, public information, and law enforcement programs to combat poaching is to develop an understanding of why people poach. Based on a literature review and content analysis, we summarized and classified the motivations for poaching that appeared in the literature into the following typology: (1) commercial gain, (2) household consumption, (3) recreational satisfactions, (4) trophy poaching, (5) thrill killing, (6) protection of self and prop...

There is no all‐encompassing measure of quality of life that adequately reflects the psychological, sociocultural, environmental, and economic components of subsistence. Even if only the material aspects of quality are considered, impact assessment in rural areas of Alaska is complicated because communities have integrated three‐sector economies. Because both state and federal laws give the highest priority to subsistence users of fishery resources, reductions in fish populations may be manifested in reduced commercial and sport harvests rather than the subsistence take. Impact analysis is complicated because the same individuals may participate in each of these economic sectors. Nevertheless, quantifying material returns such as income and subsistence goods can provide useful insights, even though interpretation of values originating in different contexts are necessarily subjective. Furthermore, these measures are inputs to the quality of life rather than measures of it.

(1998). The persistence of poaching in advanced industrial society: Meanings and motivations—An introductory comment. Society & Natural Resources: Vol. 11, The Persistence of Poaching in Advanced Industrial Society: Meanings and Motivations, pp. 5-7.