| Institution: | 1. New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Mosman, New South Wales, Australia;2. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Oceans and Atmosphere, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia;3. Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia;4. Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Spain;5. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, Washington, USA;6. Department of Biology and Institute of Environmental and Interdisciplinary Science, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada;7. Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA;8. Institute of Marine Research, Bergen, Norway;9. New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia;10. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NOAA Fisheries Office of Sustainable Fisheries, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA;11. Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Lowestoft, UK
School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK;12. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, Washington, USA;13. Port Stephens Fisheries Institute, New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Taylors Beach, New South Wales, Australia;14. AZTI, Sustainable Fisheries Management, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Sukarrieta, Spain;15. UNESP – Universidade Estadual Paulista, Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias do Vale do Ribeira, Laboratório de Ictiologia e Conservação de Peixes Neotropicais, Registro, Brazil;16. Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science, Rhodes University, Makhanda, South Africa;17. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Southeast Regional Office, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA;18. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA;19. Thünen Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries, Rostock, Germany;20. Research Center for Freshwater Fisheries, Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency, Nikko, Japan |
| Abstract: | Recreational fishing (RF) is a large yet undervalued component of fisheries globally. While progress has been made in monitoring, assessing, and managing the sector in isolation, integration of RF into the management of multi-sector fisheries has been limited, particularly relative to the commercial sector. This marginalises recreational fishers and reduces the likelihood of achieving the sector's objectives and, more broadly, achieving fisheries sustainability. We examined the nature and extent of RF inclusion in harvest strategies (HSs) for marine fisheries across 15 regions in 11 nations to define the gap in inclusion that has developed between sectors. We focused on high-income nations with a high level of RF governance and used a questionnaire to elicit expert knowledge on HSs due to the paucity of published documents. In total, 339 HSs were considered. We found that RF inclusion in HSs was more similar to the small-scale sector (i.e., artisanal, cultural, or subsistence) than the commercial sector, with explicit operational objectives, data collection, performance indicators, reference points, and management controls lacking in many regions. Where specified, RF objectives focused on sustainability, economic value and catch allocation rather than directly relating to the recreational fishing experience. Conflicts with other sectors included competition with the commercial sector for limited resources, highlighting the importance of equitable resource allocation policies alongside HSs. We propose that RF be explicitly incorporated into HSs to ensure fisheries are ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable, and we recommend that fisheries organisations urgently review HSs for marine fisheries with a recreational component to close the harvest strategy gap among sectors. |
