Sportfishers on the Hook for Dwindling U.S. Fish Stocks

摘要

Call it the mystery of the disappearing fish. Despite decades of tighter restrictions on commercial fishing, the populations of many U.S. fish stocks have continued to decline. The puzzle intrigued marine ecologist Felicia Coleman of Florida State University in Tallahassee nearly a decade ago, when she served on a government panel that helps set regional catch limits. Coleman noticed that recreational fishers were hunting many of the at-risk species the council was trying to protect. While commercial fishers were on the regulatory hook, were sport anglers the ones that got away?