The occurrence, effects and explanation of crowding in recreational boating

Abstract

This study investigates three aspects of crowding in recreational boating: the occurrence and extent of crowding, the relationship of selected variables with crowding and the effect of crowding measured in terms of behavioral responses. The study was designed to investigate crowding on shore and on the water surface at five reservoirs located in East Texas. The population of boaters employed consisted of all owners of registered boats who resided in Smith County, Texas, during 1978. Previous research indicated that a large majority of Smith County boat owners boated most often at the five reservoirs selected. A mail questionnaire was sent to a sample of 700 Smith County boat owners. A 51 percent usable response rate was achieved. The questionnaire was designed to elicit responses from each respondent relative to a boating experience in the summer of 1978 in which he experienced crowding and to a boating experience in which he did not experience crowding. Socio-demographic and boating participation data about the boat owners were also obtained for descriptive and comparison purposes. Examination of responses revealed that most crowded and noncrowded experiences reported occurred at Lake Tyler and Lake Palestine, Texas. Therefore, crowding at these two lakes only was studied. Analysis of data by the chi-square statistic revealed that crowding was felt to be more intense on shore (at parking areas and launch ramps) than on the water surface. In addition, six of seven variables suggested by the literature were found to be significantly related to crowding experienced on the water surface. These variables were: the number of boating activities engaged in, the boating activity engaged in the most amount of time, length of boating experiences, type of use encountered, horsepower of the boat used, and the type of boat used. The length of the boat used was found not to be significantly related to the perception of crowding. ...