Why It Matters – Despite the increase in offshore recreational fishing in recent decades, federal marine fisheries management is still predominately designed for commercial fisheries, where the primary value is in the maximum sustainable number of dead fish to be sold at the dock. The highest value for the nation from recreational fishing, on the other hand, is simply the opportunity to go fishing whether fish are caught or not, in many cases. President Trump’s recent “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness” Executive Order (EO) provided an opportunity to highlight the value of recreational fishing and how it could be made better.
Highlights:
- In 2022 alone, recreational saltwater anglers in the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council region took 9 million fishing trips, supported 27,000 jobs and spent $3.54 billion to take those trips.
- A Presidential Executive Order earlier this year provided a formal opportunity for the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) and others to weigh-in in on how we can manage our marine recreational fisheries for the better.
In April of this year, President Trump issued an Executive Order on “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness”. Since that time, the eight regional fishery management councils have been soliciting stakeholder input on how best to address the opportunities presented by the order. The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation recently partnered with the American Sportfishing Association and the Coastal Conservation Association in providing our suggested actions through the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s (SAFMC) process, a region that sees more than one-third of all recreational saltwater fishing trips in the nation.
While much of the EO focuses on commercial fishing and the seafood industry, many of the policies and priorities equally apply to recreational fisheries, such as addressing overregulation, ensuring access, improving fisheries management and science, and modernizing data collection. Along those lines, CSF and our partners urged the Administration to consider, among others:
- Recognizing the economic, social, and cultural value of recreational fishing (both for personal sustenance and recreation)
- Avoiding limited access privilege programs (LAPPs) in the charter/for-hire industry that reduce access for non-boat-owning anglers
- Establishing more artificial reefs, which are an important conservation tool that can enhance and replace degrading natural structures such as coral reefs, and increase habitat connectivity and metapopulation ecological benefits for species with high reef affinity
- Supporting state-led data collection and management as the pathway to improving data collection and access to recreational fisheries as has been demonstrated in the Gulf of America region
- Collecting more robust recreational economic data by specific fisheries, which is currently severely lacking for most recreationally significant species
- Encouraging the use of alternative management measures, such as harvest control rules, that provide more appropriate fishing access when stocks are doing well
CSF appreciates the tenants of the EO and looks forward to working with the Secretary of Commerce and the regional fishery management councils to improve management of our recreational fisheries.
