Black Sea Bass: Managing a Fishery

A Case Study

More than 70 percent of the world's population lives within 200 miles of the ocean, making coastal areas and the ocean especially vulnerable to human impacts. In the United States, more than half of the population lives in coastal counties. By 2015, this coastal population is expected to increase by 25 million people. Tens of thousands of jobs linked to fishing, tourism, and recreation are held aloft by healthy coastal ecosystems. The fishing industry is a $55 billion per year industry. As coastal areas and the ocean's resources continue to deteriorate both in the U.S. and across the globe, it is imperative to think about the impacts on society, the economy, and the ecosystem itself.

There are major concerns today over marine fisheries and declining fish populations. Compared to terrestrial organisms, life in the ocean is harder to monitor, and it is harder to determine the exact problems that humans are causing. Overfishing - where fishing harvest rates are too high, creating unsustainable catch levels of a particular fish - threatens many ecologically and commercially important fish species along both the Atlantic Gulf, and Pacific Coasts. Of all the fish species that have been assessed, 30 percent are "overfished" - where fish population levels are too low to provide a maximum sustainable harvest. Fishing is not the only human activity that impacts marine fish populations, although it is the most direct cause of declining fish stocks. Coastal development and sprawl, nutrient runoff, pollution, invasive species, and climate change also have the potential to harm fish populations.

This case study will focus on the stock assessment of one particular fish species, black sea bass. It is a commercially and recreationally important fish in Atlantic fisheries. According to the most recent stock assessment for this species, the black sea bass fishery of the southeastern U.S. is currently overfished and overfishing is occurring. This case study will follow the steps of those involved in the eventual management of the black sea bass fishery. The entire process is an intertwining of science, policy, and the fishery. Each stakeholder plays a very different, but important role in the fishery. This case study focuses on the people involved; marine fisheries management is about managing people, and hoping the stock responds accordingly.