Article on recreational fishing is Editor's Choice

The importance of marine recreational fishing for the development of utilised fish stocks has long been underestimated. Reliable data is meanwhile available that illustrates the influence of anglers on commercial fish and their great economic relevance in the EU. However, an analysis now shows that the consideration of recreational fishing in EU fisheries policy has not kept pace with this gain in knowledge: Policymakers still only deal with anglers when they utilise severely depleted stocks. Usually, measures are taken on an ad-hoc basis and are not geared towards long-term management. As a result, the potential of this marine exploitation is far from being realised. The authors, who include researchers from the Thünen Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries, present recommendations on how marine fisheries in the EU should be managed sensibly and in the long term. The editor of the prestigious ‘ICES Journal’, in which the article was published, selected it as particularly interesting. Co-author Harry Strehlow presents the most important findings in a video.