SEVENSEAS Partner Publications Social Science Community Newsletter: October 2016 | Page 2

Segmenting boaters, continued from page 1
This survey was the basis for a recent publication (Witzling, Shaw, &
Seiler, 2016) that segmented boaters who differ in transience level, a
proxy for risk.
Transience in this context refers to how frequently boaters are moving
around between waterbodies. Boaters who stay on only one lake per
season do not risk spreading AIS (no transience). Those who visit
multiple lakes and rivers pose a higher risk, particularly if it’s within a fiveday period (high transience). Five days is a rule of thumb for the amount
of time it takes for most AIS to die and dry. Segmenting the respondents
allowed the researchers to learn more about their highest-risk
audience, the highly transient group.
Encouragingly, results showed that all groups had generally high scores
for the attitudes, norms, and behavioral perceptions needed to perform
AIS prevention steps. Also, high transience boaters scored the highest on
objective knowledge.
Highly transient boaters were more likely to get their information on AIS
from lake associations or in conversation with friends and family, making
these networks promising avenues for outreach. Another outreach
recommendation is to focus on signage, because for all groups, signs with
AIS rules posted at boat landings were the most commonly cited source
of information.
The analysis also lead to recommendations about two risk behaviors that
managers should work on with high transience boaters. They are more

Source: Witzling, Shaw, & Seiler, 20161

likely to reuse live bait on different water bodies and add lake water to
their bait containers. If these behaviors are done in tandem, they risk
spreading waterborne disease or organisms. High transience boaters are
also more likely to transport their catch in water, which is not permitted
under Wisconsin law. An “Ice Your Catch” campaign in Wisconsin is
attempting to address this.
For this study, segmenting a target audience based on risk yielded differ-

Did You Know?
Estimated damage and control costs
of aquatic and terrestrial invasive
species in the U.S. amount to more
than $137 billion annually.

ences in what they know, do, and how they receive information, all of
which can guide effective o