Abstract Sport fishing is an important recreational and economic activity, especially in Australia, Europe and North America, and the condition of sport fish populations is a key ecological indicator of water body condition for millions of anglers and the public. Despite its importance as an ecological indicator representing the status of sport fish populations, an index for measuring this ecosystem service has not been quantified by analyzing actual fish taxa, size and abundance data across the U.S.A. Therefore, we used game fish data collected from 1,561 stream and river sites located throughout the conterminous U.S.A. combined with specific fish species and size dollar weights to calculate site-specific recreational fishery index (RFI) scores. We then regressed those scores against 38 potential site-specific environmental predictor variables, as well as site-specific fish assemblage condition (multimetric index; MMI) scores based on entire fish assemblages, to determine the factors most associated with the RFI scores. We found weak correlations between RFI and MMI scores and weak to moderate correlations with environmental variables, which varied in importance with each of 9 ecoregions. We conclude that the RFI is a useful indicator of a stream ecosystem service, which should be of greater interest to the U.S.A. public and traditional fishery management agencies than are MMIs, which tend to be more useful for ecologists, environmentalists and environmental quality agencies.

中文翻译：

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美国溪流和河流休闲渔业指数与生态条件的对应关系

摘要 游钓是一项重要的娱乐和经济活动，特别是在澳大利亚、欧洲和北美，游鱼种群状况是数百万垂钓者和公众水体状况的关键生态指标。尽管它作为代表运动鱼类种群状况的生态指标很重要，但尚未通过分析美国各地的实际鱼类分类群、大小和丰度数据来量化衡量这种生态系统服务的指数。因此，我们使用了从 1,561 条溪流中收集的猎鱼数据和位于美国本土的河流站点结合特定的鱼类物种和大小美元权重来计算特定站点的休闲渔业指数 (RFI) 分数。然后我们根据 38 个潜在的特定地点的环境预测变量对这些分数进行回归，以及基于整个鱼群的特定地点的鱼群条件（多指标指数；MMI）得分，以确定与 RFI 得分最相关的因素。我们发现 RFI 和 MMI 分数之间的相关性很弱，而与环境变量的相关性弱到中等，这在 9 个生态区中的每一个中都具有不同的重要性。我们得出的结论是，RFI 是河流生态系统服务的有用指标，与 MMI 相比，它对美国公共和传统渔业管理机构的兴趣更大，而 MMI 往往对生态学家、环保主义者和环境质量机构更有用。我们发现 RFI 和 MMI 分数之间的相关性很弱，而与环境变量的相关性弱到中等，这在 9 个生态区中的每一个中都具有不同的重要性。我们得出的结论是，RFI 是河流生态系统服务的有用指标，与 MMI 相比，它对美国公共和传统渔业管理机构的兴趣更大，而 MMI 往往对生态学家、环保主义者和环境质量机构更有用。我们发现 RFI 和 MMI 分数之间的相关性很弱，而与环境变量的相关性弱到中等，这在 9 个生态区中的每一个中都具有不同的重要性。我们得出的结论是，RFI 是河流生态系统服务的有用指标，与 MMI 相比，它对美国公共和传统渔业管理机构的兴趣更大，而 MMI 往往对生态学家、环保主义者和环境质量机构更有用。