Mapping recreational fishers’ informal learning of scientific information using a fuzzy cognitive mapping approach to mental modelling O. LI Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture, College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld, Australia S. A. GRAY Department of Community Sustainability, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA S. G. SUTTON Atlantic Salmon Federation, Saint Andrews, NB, Canada Abstract Fisheries management benefits from improving the communication of scientific information to recreational fishers through improved compliance and greater contributions during consultation and engagement. This study uses fuzzy cognitive mapping to collect detailed, graphic information about recreational fishers’ mental models as a way to improve the way scientific information is communicated to them. Fishers were given three examples of scientific information to understand the affective, cognitive and conative reactions to different types of fisheries-related information that they often encounter, and mental models were derived based on topics they found most and least interesting. This study identifies driving variables and constraints to fishers’ interest in taking up scientific information. The results suggest a message’s clarity, perceived regular usefulness, good and bad emotion and investments in money and time influence fishers’ interest in taking up scientific information. Fishers’ initial levels of interest in a topic also significantly affect the complexity of thought processes leading to further interest in informal learning and the relative roles of the driving variables and constraints. KEYWORDS: communication, fisheries, fisheries science, informal learning, recreational fishers, scientific information. Introduction There is a growing need to understand how to communi- cate scientific information better to fisheries stakeholders. The effective communication of scientific information between stakeholders (e.g. resource users, researchers and managers) allows management agencies to react quickly to new information, and adapt their management approaches/tools as necessary (Granek et al. 2008; Gray & Jordan 2010; Gray et al. 2012). Furthermore, manage- ment changes are less likely to translate into behavioural change in stakeholders, such as compliance with man- agement measures, without effective communication and increased understanding and engagement of stakeholders in the decision-making process and awareness of the science underlying it (Weeks & Packard 1997; Schusler et al. 2003; Kaplan & McCay 2004). The effectiveness of modern fisheries management therefore depends in part on how effectively information is communicated from a range of scientific disciplines (social, economic and ecological) to a diverse range of fisheries stakehold- ers. However, despite the need for a better understanding of issues surrounding the communication and uptake of scientific information in fisheries management, this is an area that has received little formal attention from a research perspective. Correspondence: Owen Li, 3/32 Cassel Avenue, Towradgi, NSW 2518, Australia (e-mail: Owen.li@my.jcu.edu.au) © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd doi: 10.1111/fme.12174 Fisheries Management and Ecology, 2016 1 Fisheries Management and Ecology