Muskellunge Management: Fifty Years of Cooperation Among Anglers, Scientists, and Fisheries Biologists

Can They Play Nicely? Creating and Managing a Two-Predator System [Extended Abstract]

Sasha S. Doss, Brian R. Murphy, Victor J. DiCenzo, Leandro Castello, and Joseph A. Williams

doi: https://doi.org/10.47886/9781934874462.ch55

The management of a recreational fishery composed of multiple predatory species can pose a challenge to managers, as they must maintain both the ecological balance of the system and the satisfaction of divergent angler groups who may have competing interests. Historically, when either the ecological or social perspective has been ignored, the result is often a damaged relationship between the resource users and the managing agency (Churchill et al. 2002). Such conflicts exist for many recreational fisheries, including the Muskellunge Esox masquinongy and Smallmouth Bass Micropterus dolomieu fisheries of the New River, Virginia.