By Chris Horton, CSF Fisheries Program Director
Coming from the freshwater side of fisheries management, it is easy for me to see why state inland fisheries managers are successful in both managing for conservation and maximizing public access, while many of our federally managed marine species, like Gulf of Mexico red snapper, are in such turmoil. Much of the contrast between state and federal management boils down to the completely different approaches to managing a fishery that each takes. As I was preparing for our annual family vacation and fishing trip to the Gulf of Mexico, which happened to be in Alabama this year where they invest a lot in artificial habitat, I thought this might be a good opportunity to produce a quick video blog explaining the three legs of the fishery management stool, and while the states manage for all three, the federal management system focuses on balancing their management – often unsuccessfully – on just one leg of that stool.
Note: CSF hosted a Capitol Hill Briefing in 2015 on the solution to red snapper management. View the briefing video here.
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