Here to Change the Game

“You’ve got to learn to play the game.” That was the unsolicited advice I got from a fellow fisherman and long-time fishing-industry representative after I was the only angler who spoke up in support of a common-sense approach to saving a beloved Southern California fish at a state Fish and Game Commission meeting.

Fishing has always been a part of my life. My earliest memories include fishing a local pond for bass and reeling in red drum on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Fast-forward a few decades to a career in ocean conservation with various environmental organizations, and I regularly found myself pitted against other fishers due to my stances on marine-conservation issues. But from the conversations I’d had and connections I’d made over years on the water, I knew there had to be a way to better support our fisheries, to make conservation progress and represent the breadth of values and perspectives that make up the fishing community.

In all my time on the water and advocating for conservation issues, I’ve interacted with many conservation-minded anglers out there like me. Yet our views are rarely represented in conversations about how meaningful policy and management can benefit all fishers in the long-term. Fish On was born in 2024 to do just that — present the facts to fishing communities and empower us to advocate in support of our values and interests.

Our first issue of consequence: protecting that Southern California fish I’d advocated for at the Fish and Game Commission meeting — the barred sand bass.

Often called sandbass or sandies, these fish, which are related to sea basses and groupers, are found on sandy bottom and rocky reef areas along the Southern California coastline and all the way down to Baja, Mexico. The commercial fishery for this species collapsed in the 1950s, but it has continued to be a popular target for recreational fishers. About 12 years ago — to address concerns about the dwindling numbers of three bass species, including barred sand bass — the California Fish and Game Commission lowered bag limits, that is, the number of fish anglers can catch and keep each day. While this and other conservation measures helped the two other bass species, sandbass numbers remain alarmingly low.

The crux of the issue for sandbass is something called hyperstability — the same phenomenon that contributed to the collapse of the Atlantic cod fishery in the 1990s. Sandbass form densely concentrated aggregations in the summer months to spawn. These well-known spawning sites are easily targeted by sportfishing vessels, and anglers quickly reel in their bag limits. When this happens year after year, we get a skewed view of the health of the fishery. Since we are able to catch the same amount of fish easily at these sites, it gives us the impression of a healthy fishery, but in reality, we’re taking from a pool of fewer and fewer fish.

The obvious solution is to leave barred sand bass alone when they spawn. For fishers, this would mean a closed season June through August to let the species reproduce. To minimize the economic impact of the closure, sportfishing charter vessels could instead offer fishing trips curated around other prized species such as yellowtail, white sea bass, and halibut, which can be harvested readily and more sustainably during these summer months.

The California Fish and Game Commission considered a range of potential regulations for sandies, from the more-precautionary seasonal closure to no change at all, before making a final decision earlier this year. During the process, sportfishing industry groups advocated to reduce the bag limit for sandies by only one fish, insisting that the fishery was healthy. But Fish On followed the science and supported the precautionary approach. We took a leading role in communicating the science, countering misinformation, and educating anglers on this critical opportunity to save a species.

Learn more about this Earth Island project at fishon.us.

The consequence of not playing the game, however, is often backlash and name-calling from those advocating for short-term economic interests. Those groups ultimately won this time and the Commission adopted a nominal bag limit change from five to four fish rather than seasonal closure. But on the positive side, Fish On did succeed in bringing new, well-informed voices to the table, making the decision much more difficult for the commissioners, who offered a compromise by insisting that the issue be revisited next year.

By providing the facts and the tools to create safer spaces for anglers and spearfishers to participate in the public processes that directly impact us, Fish On also succeeded in growing and empowering our community.

Just like I told that fisherman: “I’m not here to play the game, I’m here to change the game.” And we’re just getting started.