Why the whole is greater than the sum of its parts: A case for population-level management

Catch-and-release regulations in recreational fisheries have been implemented for decades with the intention of allowing fishing while reducing fishing mortality. In addition, voluntary catch-and-release behaviors are increasingly common. Social and scientific interest in fish handling practices in catch-and-release fisheries as they relate to stress, reflex impairment, reproductive success, and mortality has been expanding. The scientific literature is now replete with studies that examine these issues, and they have become a fixture in the public discourse on angling. Scientists and anglers are making fishing regulation proposals and suggestions for fish-handling practices. The proximal intent of these recommendations is to reduce excessive stress or mortality on a per capita basis with a belief that the reduction ultimately has a positive effect on the population. Whether the proximal intent achieves population goals depends on several factors, including effort, population dynamic rates, and stock-recruitment dynamics. This perspective reviews the state of the science relative to a hierarchical framework of fishery population dynamics, with a call for fishery scientists to consider their scope of inference and assumptions relative to conservation and population management.