Landing the 'Tiger of Rivers': Understanding Recreational Angling of Mahseers in India using YouTube Videos

Abstract

Megafish mahseers popularly known as the tiger of rivers, are the dream catch of recreational anglers in India. The present study explored the Recreational Angling (RA) videos of five mahseer species Tor khudree (deccan mahseer), T. putitora (golden mahseer), T. remadevii (humpback mahseer), T. mosal (mosal mahseer) and Neolissochilus hexagonolepis (chocolate mahseer) recorded from India and uploaded on the social media platform YouTube from January 2010 to October 2022. We did not come across any RA videos of T. mosal and T. remadevii on YouTube hence further analyses were carried out on the remaining three focal species. No seasonality was observed in the frequency of RA videos uploaded on YouTube and T. khudree attracted the highest number of views per video. Catch and Release (C&R), an ethical RA practice was noticeably low in the case of N. hexagonolepis. The size of the catch was found to be positively associated with the social engagement received by the RA videos of all the three mahseer species focused. Angler and angling-related remarks and words associated with the emotion trust dominated the comments received by the videos. The results are discussed in light of the trending discourses on developing social media data as a complementary tool for monitoring and managing RA and conserving fish.