Incorporating User Conflicts into Experimental Design: A Lake Fork Perspective

Schlechte, J. W., R. W. Luebke and T. O. Smith 

Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPW) has been asked to suspend slot-length-limit regulations during black bass (Micropterus spp.) tournaments. Such a waiver would allow tournament anglers to retain black bass within the slot-limit; non-tournament anglers would not be granted this exemption. To measure the biological, economic and social impacts of a tournament in which slot-limits had been waived, we planned a series of six experimental tournaments. The experiment contains several unusual features designed to accommodate the concerns of the various stakeholders. Some examples of such features are: a) two independent tournaments simultaneously collecting fish, b) TPW observers on tournament boats, c) informational meetings for TPW employees and for participants of each of the independent tournaments and d) attitude, opinion and economic questionnaires designed and administered to seven unique stakeholder groups. Following the first tournament, analyses suggested that the data from the two parallel tournaments were similar and mortality results were defensible. As a measure of our success: although none of our constituents seemed entirely pleased with the preliminary results, all factions appear to have accepted them.

Copyright © 1999
Texas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society
Last modified: 03/03/04 04:15:38 PM