The Cost of Delay in Fisheries Management

The Cost of Delay in Fisheries Management

Striped bass; photo via Dave Monti Fisheries management breeds controversy. No matter how badly a management measure is needed, some people will argue against it. Sometimes they challenge the science, and say that a stock is healthier than biologists claim. Sometimes, they allege that the economic harm that a measure may cause outweighs any benefit […]

The “Why” of Managing Fisheries

The “Why” of Managing Fisheries

Top Photo: Atlantic Herring Fisheries management is often viewed as a scientific discipline, but science is only one aspect of the management process. Before biologists can determine how a fishery ought to be managed, they need to understand the politics and policies that determine why management measures are needed. These days, we often think of […]

Striped Bass is a Poor Model for Recreational Fishery Management

Striped Bass is a Poor Model for Recreational Fishery Management

Ever since the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) successfully rebuilt the collapsed Atlantic striped bass population in 1995, some segments of the recreational fishing community have used striped bass as an example of how recreational fisheries ought to be managed. Praise for ASMFC’s approach to striped bass management reached a crescendo in the run-up […]

Slot Limits No Panacea for Summer Flounder

Slot Limits No Panacea for Summer Flounder

The summer flounder population has been in a decline. Such decline is due, in large part, not to overfishing (although modest overfishing has occurred in one or two recent years), but to at least six consecutive years of below-average recruitment of young fish into the flounder population. Biologists haven’t yet figured out why such low […]