Factoring 

 Fishermen 

 Into 



Fisheries 

 Management 



Michael Halminski 



By Kathy Hart 



Let's face it, the term fisheries 

 management is a misnomer. Try as 

 you might, there is no way to tell a 

 fish what to do. 



Scientists can count the fish, 

 learn their biology, study their habits 

 and track their travels. But forget 

 explaining to a flounder or clam 

 about seasons, territories, quotas, 

 size limits and net mesh sizes. 



Instead, saltwater fishery re- 

 source managers are left with a 

 tougher job: managing people. 



And tough might be an under- 

 statement for describing the monu- 

 mental task of managing hundreds of 

 fishermen involved in dozens of 



fisheries using gear that ranges from 

 a simple rake for gathering clams to 

 sophisticated, multitrawl nets used 

 by big commercial rigs to catch 

 ocean species. 



And that's just the commercial 

 fishermen. 



Resource managers must also 

 consider saltwater anglers, who are 

 every bit as diverse as their commer- 

 cial counterparts. The angler who 

 casts a line from the beach for spot is 

 just as much a recreational fisherman 

 as the sportsman who travels miles 

 offshore to catch the big game fish. 



So how do resource managers 

 make decisions? 



In the past, their decisions have 



been based largely on biological and 

 resource data. And Sea Grant 

 scientists have readily supplied a 

 bounty of scientific data for them to 

 draw upon. 



But the decisions are getting 

 harder to make. 



Many fish and shellfish stocks 

 are dwindling, either because of 

 overfishing, habitat degradation or 

 water quality problems. As a conse- 

 quence, competition is heated as 

 fishermen strive to fill their nets and 

 their coolers with the catch of the 

 day. 



Fishery managers are faced with 

 parceling out today's catch while 

 conserving for tomorrow's. At the 



10 JANUARY I FEBRUARY 1993 



