Saltwater recreational fisheries receive little attention compared to their commercial counterparts. Yet recreational fisheries can suffer from many of the same symptoms of open access as commercial fisheries. Regulations designed to allocate a scarce supply, such as seasonal closures augmented with bag and size limits, can result in significant losses...
Many recreational fisheries are managed under regulated open access governed by seasonal closures and bag limits. This approach has often promoted a “race to the fish” with cascades of shorter seasons and shrinking bag limits. These restrictions may have significant effects on angler welfare by inefficiently allocating fish across anglers,...