Recreational fisheries are contributing to an increasing proportion
of the total catch of several species worldwide (Brouwer and
Buxton, 2002; Griffiths et al., 2006). Not only will the cumulative
effects of increasingly efficient sub-fisheries apply further pressure
on the long-term sustainability of fishery resources, but it may also
increase conflict between commercial and recreational sectors over
access rights to shared species (see Bromhead et al., 2004). Furthermore,
in fisheries such as the LBGF where participation and
apparent impact on individual species is low but their contribution
to local economies is disproportionately high, there may be a
higher responsibility placed on fishery managers to ensure competing
fisheries are adequately managed to maintain supply of target
species to these fisheries into the long term. This study has given
a preliminary insight into the specialised techniques, efficacy and
expenditure of fishers within the land-based component of the
recreational pelagic game fish fishery and highlighted the difficulty
in representatively sampling its specialised fishers. Researchers are
encouraged to think laterally to develop cost-effective sampling
approaches that can adapt to the rapidly diversifying recreational
fishing sector.