Human dimensions of angler nonresponse in California’s recreational steelhead fishing report card program

Angler demographics and behaviors have a significant impact on recreational fishery-dependent data, and recently, human dimensions have become more widely recognized as an important part of fisheries management. California’s steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) report card program has served to track recreational fishing effort and catch each calendar year for management purposes through angler self-reporting. However, angler report card return rates are consistently low, and there has been no recent effort to investigate angler attributes that may be contributing to nonresponse. This study evaluated trends in angler demographics as they relate to annual steelhead report card return rates as well as online reporting rates across the 2012–2019 study period. The study also assessed whether specific demographic or behavioral characteristics may affect the likelihood of anglers returning their report cards. Older, more avid anglers were found to have a greater likelihood of reporting in general. Motivations or deterrents for response vs. nonresponse could not be identified due to data limitations and should be the subject of future research.