German Anglers’ Views on Global Warming – Implications for Climate Change Monitoring and Management

Global warming is affecting aquatic ecosystems worldwide. Recreational anglers could contribute to essential data collection as citizen scientists, serving as a prerequisite for adaptive environmental management. Based on a telephone-diary survey, this study investigated German anglers' views on climate change impacts on aquatic ecosystems and identified social predictors of these views. The majority of anglers acknowledged the phenomenon of global warming, associating it with extreme weather events, increased aquatic plant growth, and phytoplankton blooms. Only a minority recognised or suspected an impact of global warming on their target fish species. Neither age nor education level significantly influenced anglers' perceptions of climate warming. Angling motives, gender, angling water, and club membership had little effect, while higher environmental awareness increased the likelihood of recognising climate impacts on aquatic ecosystems. This suggests that environmentally aware anglers may be suitable candidates for environmental monitoring, despite their heterogeneity. The partial inconsistency between anglers' awareness of climate change and their observed and anticipated future impacts highlights the need for appropriate training as precondition for successfully involving anglers in climate-related environmental monitoring.