OPTIMUM YIELD FOR RECREATIONAL FISHERIES MANAGEMENT

Optimum yield (OY) calls for fishery professionals to deliberately and meaningfully incorporate biological, economic, and social values into fishery management decision making. This invitation eventually will r equire a large, multidisciplinary database for a fishery, but that rea lity is in the distant future. For now OY compels us to consider a par adigm shift. The new paradigm would require decision makers to choose a list of essential variables that would be examined and weighed in co ncert before developing management plans. Here, we present four OY man agement accounts (biological, sociocultural, economic, and human healt h) as the conceptual framework for this OY data-gathering. Depending o n the mix of user groups, each management account would generate sever al important variables that should be considered as a starting point f or OY decision making for a fishery. The suggested data can be obtaine d easily through routine creel surveys, Our reconceptualization of OY is intended to shift the content and focus of recreational fishery man agement plans toward evaluating and promoting diverse sociocultural be nefits to anglers and communities.