Canada's Recreational Fisheries: The Invisible Collapse?

Abstract

Fishing for recreation is a popular activity in many parts of the world and this activity has led to the development of a sector of substantial social and economic value worldwide. The maintenance of this sector depends on the ability of aquatic ecosystems to provide fishery harvest. We are currently witnessing the collapse of many commercial marine fisheries due to over-exploitation. Recreational fisheries are typically viewed as different from commercial fisheries in that they are self-sustaining and not controlled by the social and economic forces of the open market that have driven many commercial fisheries to collapse. Here we reject the view that recreational and commercial fisheries are inherently different and demonstrate several mechanisms that can lead to the collapse of recreational fisheries. Data from four high profile Canadian recreational fisheries show dramatic declines over the last several decades yet these declines have gone largely unnoticed by fishery scientists, managers, and the public. Empirical evidence demonstrates that the predatory behavior of anglers reduces angling quality to levels proportional to distance from population centers. In addition, the behavior of many fish species and the anglers who pursue them, the common management responses to depleted populations, and the ecological responses of disrupted food webs all lead to potential instability in this predator-prey interaction. To prevent widespread collapse of recreational fisheries, fishery scientists and managers must recognize the impact of these processes of collapse and incorporate them into strategies and models of sustainable harvest.