The importance of recreational fisheries is increasing in many transitional economies. These guidelines focus on recreational fisheries and describe strategies to promote environmentally sustainable and socially responsible management of such fisheries. To this end, the document details policy, managerial and behavioural recommendations for sustainable recreational fisheries.

Recreational or sports fishing is a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide and in many countries represents an important social and cultural activity. In some regions, it also contributes significant income to tourism and tackle businesses. In addition to its importance from a social and economic standpoint, the impact of recreational fishing on the environment and on food webs can often be substantial. This important book represents the major output from the 4th World Recreational Fishing Conference held in Norway in June 2005. The conference focused on several topics and targeted all stakeholders in the recreational fishing sector, including researchers, managers, NGO representatives and businesses. This book reflects that diversity, encompassing a variety of approaches within its carefully selected and fully peer-reviewed chapters. Global Challenges in Recreational Fisheries is an essential purchase for fisheries managers, multidisciplinary fisheries scientists, marine and freshwater biologists, ecologists and environmental scientists. The book is highly relevant for graduate university courses in fisheries management and fisheries sciences. Libraries in all universities, government fish and wildlife agencies and research establishments where these subjects are studied and taught will need copies of this important publication.

Marine recreational fishing is a popular activity enjoyed by more than 9 million Americans annually and is a driver of the American ocean-or blue-economy. To ensure that fish populations are not overexploited, the NOAA Fisheries' Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) monitors recreational catch through a variety of in-person, telephone, mail-in, and other surveys. NOAA Fisheries' management of recreational catch also must take into account annual catch limits (ACLs) established to prevent overfishing for all managed species in federal waters. While MRIP has worked to improve recreational catch surveys over the past decade, the surveys were never designed to meet the demands of in-season management of ACLs. In some cases, estimates of harvest have triggered accountability measures such as early season closures and reductions in future recreational ACLs, which have been a source of contention with the recreational fishing community. This report presents approaches for optimizing MRIP data and complementary data for in-season management and considers alternatives for managing recreational fisheries with ACLs to better serve both social and economic management objectives.

Each year, thirteen million anglers enjoy the sport of saltwater angling in the United States, generating an estimated $30 billion in sales and supporting nearly 350,000 jobs. Recreational saltwater fishing, however, can significantly impact species of concern-species overfished or experiencing overfishing. Traditional angling controls—bag and size limits and restricted seasons—have fallen short in controlling fishing impacts and reducing conflicts among fishing and non-fishing interests. Evolving Approaches to Managing Marine Recreational Fisheries offers ways of overcoming such problems while providing anglers and the recreational service industry greater regulatory flexibility to enjoy the fruits of sportfishing. It features fourteen internationally recognized fishery experts presenting the pros and cons of using individual fishing quotas (IFQs), game tags, and angler management organizations (AMOs) in managing marine recreational fisheries, presenting both theoretical and practical solutions to help move recreational fisheries management to a new and improved level.

The purpose of this study is to provide a snapshot of recreational fisheries legal frameworks within the Mediterranean with a view to promoting homogeneous and comprehensive recreational fisheries management in the Mediterranean. The study reviews the existing laws and regulations concerning recreational fisheries adopted by Mediterranean countries. It provides first an overview of relevant international initiatives regarding the management of recreational fisheries and a summary of marine recreational fisheries within the Mediterranean basin. The core of the study focuses on a comparative analysis of the main management measures adopted by States, including: (i) access regimes to fisheries resources: (ii) conservation measures: (iii) special recreational fisheries regulations: and (iv) monitoring, control and surveillance of recreational fisheries.

Recreational hunting has long been a controversial issue. Is it a threat to biodiversity or can it be a tool for conservation, giving value to species and habitats that might otherwise be lost? Are the moral objections to hunting for pleasure well founded? Does recreational hunting support rural livelihoods in developing countries, or are these benefits exaggerated by proponents? For the first time, this book addresses many of the issues that are fundamental to an understanding of the real role of recreational hunting in conservation and rural development. It examines the key issues, asks the difficult questions, and seeks to present the answers to guide policy. Where the answers are not available, it highlights gaps in our knowledge and lays out the research agenda for the next decade.

Anders Halverson provides an exhaustively researched and grippingly rendered account of the rainbow trout and why it has become the most commonly stocked and controversial freshwater fish in the United States. Discovered in the remote waters of northern California, rainbow trout have been artificially propagated and distributed for more than 130 years by government officials eager to present Americans with an opportunity to get back to nature by going fishing. Proudly dubbed an entirely synthetic fish by fisheries managers, the rainbow trout has been introduced into every state and province in the United States and Canada and to every continent except Antarctica, often with devastating effects on the native fauna. Halverson examines the paradoxes and reveals a range of characters, from nineteenth-century boosters who believed rainbows could be the saviors of democracy to twenty-first-century biologists who now seek to eradicate them from waters around the globe. Ultimately, the story of the rainbow trout is the story of our relationship with the natural world--how it has changed and how it startlingly has not.