The application of social judgement analysis to urban fisheries management

Abstract

Social judgment analysis was used to define design criteria for urban fisheries in small ponds and natural waterfronts. The analysis involved (1) compiling a team of expert judges, (2) creating a series of hypothetical cases for ponds and waterfronts, (3) having the experts judge the quality of the cases, and (4) creating multiple regression equations that described their individual and combined judgments.

Fifty-nine urban fisheries managers were identified from a survey of public fisheries agencies and private organizations. Twenty-eight experts were selected based on amount and types of experience and geographic distribution. Content analysis of the urban fisheries literature was used to identify potentially important design elements. Sixteen experts each judged the quality of 40 small pond and 40 waterfront fisheries based on (1) percentage of the management program devoted to education, (2) percentage of the program planned locally, (3) percentage of the program funded locally, (4) accessibility of the fishery, (5) percentage of the shoreline available for fishing, (6) stocking rate, (7) overall water quality, and (8) shoreline distance between fish attraction structures.

Urban pond fisheries experts identified two general management approaches to urban pond fisheries. Group 1 managers indicated a focused policy based primarily on stocking, shoreline available for fishing, and accessibility of the fishery. Group 2 managers indicated a broader policy less directed at any particular element, but with emphasis on stocking, water quality, education, and available shoreline. Both groups indicated that local planning, local funding, and attraction structures were relatively unimportant in their decisions concerning fishery quality. Waterfront experts favored an even broader management policy with a greater distribution of relative importance across all the elements. However, the relatively small number of waterfront experts included in the policy development and the broad approach indicates the variability of waterfronts. This variability made the development of management generalizations for urban waterfront fisheries difficult.