Role of Recreational Fisher Information in Fisheries Management

Abstract

Abstract Fisheries managers work with the three components of fisheries—biota, environment, and people—to achieve recreational, stewardship, and socioeconomic goals. Although manipulation of biota and the aquatic environment remains popular (e.g. harvest regulation, protecting or enhancing habitats, and guarding water quality), the human dimension of fisheries must also be considered throughout the fisheries management process. Managers can and should engage fishers in a myriad of ways, from identification of problems to guidance on alternatives, and from measurement of change to evaluation of success. In this chapter, we review common fisheries management goals and objectives; detail information needs stemming from those objectives that can be answered by recreational fishers; suggest areas where increased use or application would more proactively address management objectives; and provide examples of integration of recreational fisher information into the decision-making process. Relevant examples of fisheries management frameworks that require recreational fisher information include the multinational Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean flats fishery; collaborative data collection in United Kingdom sea angling fisheries and Florida Everglades largemouth bass fisheries; co-management of mixed commercial-recreational fisheries in Western Australia; co-operative management of marine fisheries in New Zealand; and co-design of fisheries management plans for UK fisheries