1. Regulations - Chapter 17

2. Regulations
Tools to be used in conjunction with other management practices to achieve specific fishery goals and objectives

3. Types of Regulations Licenses/permits Provide revenue Survey database
Determine access to fishery

4. Types of Regulations Size limits
Minimum size - protect juvenile fish until maturity
Maximum size - protect small stock of spawning fish

5. Types of Regulations Size limits
Slot limit - remove surplus of small fish, channel energy into medium-sized fish to help them get bigger faster

6. Types of Regulations Creel limits
Provide equitable division of harvest
Catch and release - reduce fishing mortality
Maintain high catch rates
Increase catch of larger fish

7. Types of Regulations
Seasons
Closed to protect spawning fish

8. Types of Regulations Closed areas Protect anglers from danger
Protect fish in vulnerable habitats
Spawning, nursery areas

9. Types of Regulations Gear restrictions
Promote diversity of “experience”
Promote inefficiency of harvest
Special implications often important
Reduce hooking mortality

10. Differences Among Habitat Types
Coldwater fisheries
Many regulations to protect from overexploitation

11. Differences Among Habitat Types
Coolwater, warmwater streams, rivers
Seldom overexploited, regulations generally liberalized
Exceptions: smallmouth bass, anadromous stocks (e.g., striped bass)

12. Differences Among Habitat Types
Lakes
Regulations to prevent overharvest of top carnivores
May be variable year-to-year
Regulations now more common to reduce overexploitation of some prey (sunfish, perch)

13. Differences Among Habitat Types
Reservoirs
Highly variable, liberal to restrictive
Spatial zoning - different regulations in different areas

14. Basis for Regulations Regulations should be based on:
Biological relevance
Public input

15. Future Direction
Replacement of regional regulations by resource-specific regulations
More difficult to understand
More difficult to enforce
More difficult to collect data needed to determine management needs for individual systems