Examining State Dependence and Place Attachment Within a Recreational Fishing Site Choice Model

Abstract

Many contexts including the fidelity that recreationists have for sites may affect the choices of recreational sites by individuals. This study expands the choice model research on state dependence by examining state dependence at site and larger spatial scales. Analyses of recreational fishing site choices by anglers from northern Ontario, Canada suggest that anglers exhibit state dependence at both the site and larger spatial scales. Attempts to understand the importance of state dependence through self reports of place attachment dimensions among the anglers provided mixed results. No significant relationships were found between place identity and the importance of site or spatial state dependence to anglers. While having no significant effect on site state dependence, place dependence was positively associated with the importance of spatial state dependence among approximately 65% of the anglers. Evidently, anglers who viewed themselves as dependent upon a fishing area were more likely to take their fishing trips in a constrained space than were other anglers. These conclusions are influenced by the difference between the larger spatial scale for the place attachment questions (i.e., favorite fishing area) than for the choice model (i.e., fishing site).