The Effects of Regulated Area Location and Size on the Effectiveness of a Catch‐and‐Release Season for a Riverine Black Bass

Abstract

AbstractCatch‐and‐release areas are an extension of the concept of aquatic protected areas, which implement protective measures at a broad spatial scale in an attempt to increase conservation efforts. Also, catch‐and‐release areas are commonly used to regulate sport fisheries, particularly in specific areas during the spawning season. However, the size and location of catch‐and‐release areas are rarely evaluated in terms of their effects on the success of these regulations in protecting these species. Empirical exploitation data were used with an age‐structured model to explore changes in population biomass and size structure of Shoal Bass Micropterus cataractae in the Flint River, Georgia, with simulated changes in the location and size of catch‐and‐release areas during the spawning season. Annual exploitation of Shoal Bass with no catch‐and‐release area was 0.257 and was reduced 0–21% when a catch‐and‐release regulation was simulated in a specific reach. Models predicted significant increases in population biomass and size structure using catch‐and‐release reaches as short as 33 km, but this was contingent upon which specific reaches were designated as catch and release. As area size increased, population biomass and size structure of the population increased, but the rate of increase depended upon the specific areas incorporated. Designation of the entire reach would decrease annual exploitation by 50%, but large portions of the study area could be designated as catch and release with little changes in population biomass or size structure due to low harvest rates. This study illuminated the importance of spatial patterns of harvest in determining effectiveness of catch‐and‐release areas, which should be an important consideration in the placement of such aquatic protected areas.