COVID-recruited anglers: Who are they and how can we retain them?

Abstract Objective During the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 Texas fishing license sales were 25% higher than those in 2019, with over 200,000 first-time anglers. To better understand this unprecedented cohort of new anglers, we conducted an online survey to examine motivations, behaviors, preferences, and barriers to participation. Methods We invited 60,000 anglers to participate in a self-administered online survey by e-mailing an invitation to anglers from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department customer license database. Result Sixty-eight percent of survey respondents were new anglers recruited during the COVID-19 pandemic, while the remaining 32% were retained anglers that began fishing before the pandemic. Compared to the typical retained angler (i.e., White, male, 45–54 years old), new anglers were 1.9 times more likely to be female, twice as likely to fish in freshwater, 2.8 times more likely to be younger than 44 years old, and more likely to identify as Black or African American (1.9 times) or as Asian or Pacific Islander (2.8 times). New anglers were motivated to fish to spend time with family and friends and were less likely than retained anglers to keep the fish that they caught (1.5 times), to fish from a boat (1.5 times), to fish more than an hour from home (1.4 times), and to renew their fishing license (3.9 times). License sales of survey respondents in 2022 showed that 68% of retained anglers purchased another license, while 51% of new anglers purchased another fishing license. Conclusion In summary, new anglers differed significantly from retained anglers in terms of sociodemographics, motivations to fish, preferred amenities at fishing sites, and the challenges they face to continue fishing. To retain these new anglers, novel approaches are likely needed, which may include targeting specific demographics with more beginner information about fishing and directing users to sites with their preferred amenities.