Globalizing recreational fisheries should not globalize non-native species
Abstract
Recreational fishing continues to expand globally, generating substantial economic, cultural, and social benefits. Yet with this globalization in fishing opportunities comes more diverse pathways for biological invasions. Major concerns are surfacing that the intentional stocking of non-native fishes to initiate or enhance recreational fisheries may facilitate the unsanctioned spread of the target species, as well as the introduction of a host of other species through unintentional pathways. These invasion risks become especially difficult to manage once non-native sport fishes are well established and embedded in local economies, tournament cultures, and angling identities, reinforcing ecological and socioeconomic feedbacks that drive socio-ecological lock-in. Using widely introduced sport fishes as examples, we highlight governance gaps between recreational-fishery development and biosecurity measures associated with invasive species. We propose basin-native target species, context-specific tournament rules, strict containment of non-native fishes in closed waters, and stronger angler biosecurity to reconcile recreational fisheries with biodiversity conservation.
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BibTeX
@misc{sun2026globalizing,
title = {{Globalizing recreational fisheries should not globalize non-native species}},
author = {Jingrui Sun and Phillip Joschka Haubrock and Ronaldo Sousa and Teun Everts and Huiying Yang and Hugh MacIsaac and Neil Angelo Abreo and Shams M. Galib and Ali Serhan Tarkan and J. Robert Britton and Julian Olden},
howpublished = {EcoEvoRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.32942/x21x20},
url = {https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/15760/},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Globalizing recreational fisheries should not globalize non-native species
AU - Jingrui Sun
AU - Phillip Joschka Haubrock
AU - Ronaldo Sousa
AU - Teun Everts
AU - Huiying Yang
AU - Hugh MacIsaac
AU - Neil Angelo Abreo
AU - Shams M. Galib
AU - Ali Serhan Tarkan
AU - J. Robert Britton
AU - Julian Olden
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/27
PB - EcoEvoRxiv
DO - 10.32942/x21x20
UR - https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/15760/
AB - Recreational fishing continues to expand globally, generating substantial economic, cultural, and social benefits. Yet with this globalization in fishing opportunities comes more diverse pathways for biological invasions. Major concerns are surfacing that the intentional stocking of non-native fishes to initiate or enhance recreational fisheries may facilitate the unsanctioned spread of the target species, as well as the introduction of a host of other species through unintentional pathways. These invasion risks become especially difficult to manage once non-native sport fishes are well established and embedded in local economies, tournament cultures, and angling identities, reinforcing ecological and socioeconomic feedbacks that drive socio-ecological lock-in. Using widely introduced sport fishes as examples, we highlight governance gaps between recreational-fishery development and biosecurity measures associated with invasive species. We propose basin-native target species, context-specific tournament rules, strict containment of non-native fishes in closed waters, and stronger angler biosecurity to reconcile recreational fisheries with biodiversity conservation.
ER -