Inland recreational fisheries, found in lakes, rivers, and other landlocked waters, are important to livelihoods, nutrition, leisure, and other societal ecosystem services worldwide. Although recreationally-caught fish are frequently harvested and consumed by fishers, their contribution to food and nutrition has not been adequately quantified due to lack of data, poor monitoring, and under-reporting, especially in developing countries. Beyond limited global harvest estimates, few have explored species-specific harvest patterns, although this variability has implications for fisheries management and food security. Given the continued growth of the recreational fishery sector, understanding inland recreational fish harvest and consumption rates represents a critical knowledge gap. Based on a comprehensive literature search and expert knowledge review, we quantified multiple aspects of global inland recreational fisheries for 81 countries spanning ~192 species. For each country, we assembled recreational fishing participation rate and estimated species-specific harvest and consumption rate. This dataset provides a foundation for future assessments, including understanding nutritional and economic contributions of inland recreational fisheries.

Applied Aquatic Ecology Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Department of Environment Land Water and Planning 123 Brown St Heidelberg Victoria 3084 Australia

Autoridad Nacional de Acuicultura y Pesca de Colombia AUNAP Carrera 13 40b 74 Bogotá D C Colombia

Center for Limnology University of Wisconsin Madison 680 Park St Madison WI 53706 USA

Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability Michigan State University East Lansing MI 48823 USA

Central Fisheries Research Institute Department of Fisheries Management Trabzon Turkey

Centre for Blue Governance University of Portsmouth Portsmouth PO1 2UP UK

Centre for Ecological Research Balaton Limnological Institute H 8237 Tihany Hungary

Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Conservación Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos Av Universidad 1001 Col Chamilpa Cuernavaca CP 62209 Morelos Mexico

Department of Fisheries Apiculture Wildlife Management and Special Zoology Faculty of Agriculture University of Zagreb Svetošimunska 25 10000 Zagreb Croatia

Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science Rhodes University Makhanda South Africa

Dirección General de Investigación Pesquera en el Pacífico Norte Instituto Nacional de Pesca Pitágoras núm 1320 Col Santa Cruz Atoyac Deleg Benito Juárez DF 03310 México

DSI NRF Research Chair in Inland Fisheries and Freshwater Ecology South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity Makhanda South Africa

Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology Laboratory Department of Biology and Institute of Environmental and Interdisciplinary Science Carleton University 1125 Colonel By Dr Ottawa ON K1S 5B6 Canada

Fisheries Department Lagos State University Lagos Nigeria

Fisheries Faculty Fırat University 23119 Elazıg Turkey

Fisheries New Zealand Tini a Tangaroa Ministry for Primary Industries Manatū Ahu Matua 34 38 Bowen Street 6011 Wellington New Zealand

George Mason University Department of Environmental Science and Policy Department of Atmospheric Oceanic and Earth Sciences 4400 University Dr Fairfax VA 24060 USA

Global FlyFisher Bogotá D C Colombia

Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council Tampa FL 33607 USA

Humboldt Universität zu Berlin Faculty of Life Sciences Division of Integrative Fisheries Management Philippstrasse 13 Haus 7 10115 Berlin Germany

Infinity Social and Ecological Solutions 507 McLeod St Ottawa ON K1R 5P9 Canada

Institute of Environmental Research and Engineering San Martin Argentina

Institute of Food Safety Animal Health and Environment BIOR Lejupes 3 Riga LV 1076 Latvia

Instituto da Conservacão da Natureza e das Floresta Avenida da República 16 1050 191 Lisboa Portugal

Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute Freshwaters Systems Directorate P O Box 1881 40100 Nkuruma Rd Kisumu Kenya

Kyung Hee University College of Hotel and Tourism Management 26 Kyunghee daero Dongdaemun gu Seoul 130 701 Republic of Korea

Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries Department of Biology and Ecology of Fishes Müggelseedamm 310 12587 Berlin Germany

Makerere University Department of Zoology Entomology and Fisheries Sciences P O Box 7062 Kampala Uganda

MARE Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre Faculdade de Ciências Universidade de Lisboa 1749 016 Lisboa Portugal

Myanmar Fly Fishing Project Yangon Myanmar

Slovak Union of Anglers Žilina Slovakia

Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement c o DAAF Bâtiment B Parc de la Providence 97489 Saint Denis France

Stanisław Sakowicz Inland Fisheries Institute Department of Ichthyology Hydrobiology and Aquatic Ecology Oczapowskiego 10 10 719 Olsztyn Poland

The Institute for Evaluations and Social Analyses Sokolovská 351 25 186 00 Prague 8 Czech Republic

The Nature Conservancy London UK

U S Geological Survey Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center 1954 Buford Ave Saint Paul MN 55108 USA

U S Geological Survey National Climate Adaptation Science Center 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive MS 516 Reston VA 20192 USA

University of Hull International Fisheries Institute Hull HU6 7RX UK

Water and Forest Department Fisheries and Aquaculture Service 3 Rue Harroun Errachid Agdal Rabat Morocco

Wildlife Association of South India 19 Victoria Road Bengaluru 560047 Karnataka India

Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority P O Box CY140 Causeway Harare Zimbabwe

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Inland recreational fisheries contribute nutritional benefits and economic value but are vulnerable to climate change

Global dataset of species-specific inland recreational fisheries harvest for consumption