December 22, 2017 — A new paper published in the current issue of Fisheries Research finds that giving recreational fishing businesses the flexibility to take customers fishing when they want to in exchange for carefully tracking what they catch is a win-win for the environment and the economy. The results of a pilot program show that this added flexibility and accountability enables more fishing trips over a year-round fishing season, higher earnings for businesses, better data collection, adherence to science-based catch limits, and improved conservation of fish populations.

A growing number of commercial fisheries are operating under effective management that provides economic benefits to communities while ensuring fishermen stay within sustainable catch limits and contribute to rebuilding progress. This is good for the environment, the economy, and seafood consumers around the country. But unlike their commercial fishing counterparts, marine recreational fisheries have seen little policy innovation. Instead, they have been stuck in management that relies on season, size, and bag limits, promoting a “race to fish” resulting in even tighter regulations and growing waste of fish populations. The cost of inaction is high, as recreational fisheries are increasingly important to ocean ecosystems and coastal economies.

This failure of recreational fisheries management is showcased in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, where large overharvests have become the norm and fishing seasons for popular species like red snapper, grouper, and many others are now closed for much of the year. The policy response has been business as usual – mostly characterized by conflict over who gets the fish rather than how to make better use of them. The system is failing anglers and fishing businesses alike. But a recent trial of an innovative management approach – one that combines flexibility to fish throughout the year with sustainable catch limits and improved monitoring – shows that recreational fisheries can escape the broken system just like many commercial fisheries have done.

Read the full story at the Environmental Defense Fund