In the past, fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico were poorly managed under shorter fishing seasons. This solution to overfishing only ignited a race for fish and endangered the lives of our fishermen. Additionally, poor fish populations had a ripple effect by damaging coastal economies, costing jobs, and forcing higher prices on seafood for everyone.

Impact Management was hired by the Environmental Defense Fund to assist with educating those in the fishing industry, policy makers, and others along the Gulf Coast on the advantages of “catch shares” and how this management program could aide in repairing ailing fisheries and preventing a collapse.

Because of EDF’s leadership on this issue and their outreach to those that impact this management program, the momentum for catch shares is rising and the red snapper program in the Gulf of Mexico is credited for increasing the red snapper population by 60%.

Let’s go fishing…