Participation Rates of Freshwater Recreational Fisheries in the Counties of Croatia

Abstract The aim of this research was to define the participation rates of freshwater anglers in Croatia, their changes over the years and their differences across the counties of Croatia. In spite of a continuous population decline ever since Croatia joined the EU, the number of anglers has slightly increased to around 1%. The counties can be divided into three groups – counties on the Adriatic coast where marine fisheries are dominant, a very urbanized City of Zagreb and the remaining inland counties. In freshwater recreational fisheries in Croatia, the tradition and availability of fishing grounds dominate the participation rate of anglers. However, there are indications of the influence of GDP values so the counties with GDP over 6,500 euros per capita expressed positive relationship to the percentage of anglers (p<0.05). On the other hand, densely populated county of the City of Zagreb confirms that urbanization and much higher GDP result in a much lower percentage of recreational fishermen.