Research trends and future perspectives of recreational fisheries in South America

ZUMPANO FRANCISCO; COPELLO SOFÍA; FAVERO MARCO; GARCÍA GERMÁN OSCAR

Hobart

Conferencia; 3rd World Seabird Conference; 2021

Recreational fishing (RF) is a growing activity of great socioeconomic importance in many countries of South America, providing social, cultural, food, economic and other benefits, but also producing negative effects on the ecosystems. In spite of its importance, the effects of this activity on the ecosystems and their species have received little attention in the region. With the aim of better understanding current research trends in RFs of South America, we carried out a systematic analysis of published articles between 1995 and 2020 over Scholar Google, Scopus and SciELO in Spanish, English and Portuguese languages. The search used the following keywords: ?recreational fisheries?, ?recreational fishing?, ?recreational angling?, ?sport fishing?, ?game fishing?, ?non-commercial fishing?, ?angling?, ?anglers? and ?South America?. Information contained in each of the 122 articles analyzed was categorized in four main areas according to issues addressed (environmental issues, target species, management and socioeconomic aspects). Fifty-five percent of articles addressed RFs in continental ecosystems, 43% in coastal-marine ecosystems and 2% in both environments. The number of articles increased substantially from 2005 onwards, being Brazil (69) and Argentina (36) dominant in the literature. Target species was the most frequent subject addressed in the studies (40%), followed by socioeconomic aspects (32%), environmental issues (22%) and management (6%) (x23=25.71, p