New insight into the motivations of anglers and fish release practices in view of the invasiveness of angling.

The popularity of angling on a global scale reflects the individual needs of people from different social groups in many countries. The socio-economic background and intensity of needs are variable over time and can be modified. These arguments support the development and need to update research among anglers. A new insight into angling research is to link the hierarchy of needs with socio-economic factors concerning and the preferences of anglers in handling fish. These relationships were analyzed using ordinal probit regression and graphically interpreted in an ordination space. The endogenous need for communing with nature is constant in its intensity, regardless of any external factors. Other needs weaken with increasing income, education levels and years engaged in angling. The majority of anglers support releasing fish (66%) and say that the possibility of keeping the fish is not important (62%). It is crucial to identify those anglers for whom the possibility of keeping fish is important and who do not feel extremely negative about releasing fish. The study found that they represent about 25% of the angling population. These findings help to explain the variation in the invasive impact of the identified motivational-preferential profiles of anglers. Cooperation between the associated angling communities and water managers is crucial. By gathering anglers around their own fishing places, they can implement their own educational and organizational solutions.