Fishing for the Future: How West Coast Anglers Contribute Science that Helps Sustain Sportfishing

As anglers gear-up for the summer fishing season, National Fishing and Boating Week is well timed to encourage people to get out on the water and highlight partnerships that help keep fishermen fishing. Recreational fishing is a popular pastime. In 2023, recreational anglers in the Pacific region took more than 1.9 million fishing trips, spending more than $612 million. On the West Coast, states primarily manage recreational fisheries in non-federal waters (0 to 3 nautical miles off the coast). NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region partners with anglers and fisheries managers to promote recreational fishing opportunities and stewardship.

One example of these partnerships is the California Collaborative Fisheries Research Program, which pairs scientific expertise of university researchers and NOAA Fisheries with anglers' on-the-water experience to monitor fish populations. It includes:

• Researchers from six California universities
• Captains and crew of 36 sportfishing vessels
• More than 2,500 volunteer anglers
• Conservation and resource management agencies.

The program established protocols to evaluate Marine Protected Areas, the status of nearshore fish stocks, and how changing ocean conditions are impacting marine resources in California. California established a statewide network of MPAs to protect marine life diversity, safeguard vital habitats, and preserve ecosystem integrity. They provide crucial scientific reference points that assist managers in making resource decisions.

Statewide Coordinator Erin Johnson said, "We take volunteer anglers out on charter vessels and fish inside and outside of MPAs to compare populations of coastal fish stocks like rockfish. We work directly with NOAA Fisheries, which funds some of the projects and we help generate information used in stock assessments and other research."

For the last 10 years, Captain Paul Fischer has hosted volunteer anglers six times a year on his 65-foot sportfishing charter boat Outer Limits for CCFRP. He outfits 15 volunteers with rods, reels, and three bait methods. They try to catch as many fish as they can in a certain time period inside a no-take MPA and in a comparable area outside the MPA. No-take MPAs or marine reserves do not allow any type of fishing or harvesting, except for authorized research.

"The biggest value of this collaborative research is collecting the data on the fish. If MPAs aren't continually monitored we really don't know if they are working and beneficial," said Fischer.

When a volunteer catches a fish, the research team and the boat crew work together to remove the fish from the hook and photograph, measure, and tag the fish. The research team takes special care in fish handling, including minimizing the time the catch is out of the water to improve their odds of survival.

The team uses descending devices to more safely return the rockfish to their deep-water habitat, greatly improving their survival. Captain Fischer has also led charters with NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center to evaluate the impacts of barotrauma and the long-term survival rates of rockfish released using descending devices. Barotrauma is damage to fish resulting from the change in pressure during capture.

These collaborative research trips collect data to evaluate California's network of MPAs as a tool for conservation, and to inform stock assessments and fisheries management.

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Species that are strongly targeted by commercial and recreational fisheries in areas with greatest fishing pressure have greater increases in biomass inside versus outside MPAs. In addition, species that are not targeted by fisheries did not exhibit differences in and out of MPAs over time. Biomass combines both the number and the size of fish and is a meaningful metric for fish abundance.

"We don't want to catch every fish, because we would be out of a job. We like to go out and enjoy the ocean and need fish for our businesses to thrive. Making smart management decisions is paramount to the future of fishing," said Captain Fischer.

Sign-up to become a volunteer angler!