Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Marine Policy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpol Recreational fishing in a time of rapid ocean change Ingrid E. van Putten a,b, ⁎ , Sarah Jennings b,c , Alistair J. Hobday a,b , Rodrigo H. Bustamante d , Leo X.C. Dutra e , Stewart Frusher b,f , Elizabeth A. Fulton a,b , Marcus Haward b,f , E. Éva Plagányi d , Linda Thomas a,b , Gretta Pecl b,f a CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Hobart, Tasmania 7000, Australia b Centre for Marine Socioecology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania 7000, Australia c Tasmanian School of Business and Economics, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania 7000, Australia d CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Brisbane, Queensland Australia e University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji f Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia ABSTRACT Fishing is an important recreational activity for many Australians, with one in every four people participating every year. There are however many different pressures exerted on Australian fish stocks, including climate- related changes that drive changes in local fish abundances. It is inevitable that recreational fishers will need to adapt to these changes. When resource abundance alters substantially, user adaptation to the new situation is required and policies and incentives may need to be developed to encourage behaviour change. It is important to correctly anticipate fisher's response to these policies and incentives as much as possible. Improved understanding of recreational fisher's likely adaptation decisions and the nature and timing of these decisions can help avoid unintended consequences of management decisions. Based on a survey of recreational fishers in the south-east Australian climate hotspot, we identify 4 relevant dimensions to recreational fisher's behavioural adaptation. There are differences in adaptation timing (early, late, and non-adaptors). Non-adaptors are characterised by greater cultural attachment to fishing and stronger perceptions of the factors that influence abundance change. The fisher's preferred adaptation responses and the timing of the behavioural response differs between decreasing versus increasing fish abundance. Insight into perspectives and expectations on how recreational fishers might adapt to changes is useful to develop a set of behavioural incentives that appeal to different groups but remain efficient and effective in their implementation. Such knowledge can create new pathways to achieve meaningful and targeted adaptation responses for different types of recreational fishers. 1. Introduction Climate change, combined with overfishing, pollution, and other anthropogenic impacts, are transforming the oceans. These changes will require behavioural adaptation of all marine resource users including recreational and commercial fishers [1]. To date, most discussions of behavioural change necessary to adapt to climate change in the marine space have been concerned with commercial or sub- sistence fishing, or biodiversity [2], despite the social, cultural [3,4], and economic [5] importance of recreational fishing. The importance of hypotheses about fisher behaviour for predicting, understanding, and designing efficient fisheries regulation programs is well established [6,7]. This study addresses an empirical research gap, that is under- standing recreational fishers behavioural intention to change and adapt, and the timing of any adaption, in fast warming south-east Australia [8] to help policy design and increase the likelihood of sustainable marine resource use outcomes. Recreational fishing is a leisure activity, like swimming, surfing, diving, and boating, that is central to many people, particularly those who live on the coast [9]. Around the world, over 3 billion people live within 100 km of the coast (UNEP http://www.unep.org/pdf/ Green_Economy_Blue_Full.pdf; UN Atlas of the Oceans—www.ocean- satlas.org). In Australia, the proportion is particularly high with around 80% of the country's 24.1 million people living on the small strip along the coastal margin [10]. People who live on the coast often have a strong affinity with the ocean [11], and many of coastal dwellers participate in recreational fishing activities. Globally, around 11% of the population participate in the sporting and social aspects of recreational fishing [12,13]. In Australia over 3.4 million people take part in recreational fishing each year. Recreational http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2016.11.034 Received 27 September 2016; Received in revised form 28 November 2016; Accepted 28 November 2016 ⁎ Corresponding author at: CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Hobart, Tasmania 7000, Australia. E-mail address: ingrid.vanputten@csiro.au (I.E. van Putten). Marine Policy 76 (2017) 169–177 0308-597X/ © 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd. crossmark