Popular panels on top conservation issues now a fixture at the annual sportfishing trade show

Each year, TRCP provides a Fisheries Conservation Summit at ICAST, the world’s largest sportfishing trade show, hosted by the American Sportfishing Association. At this year’s summit, top minds in fisheries policy and legislation came together to talk priorities—from fish population recovery through stock enhancements to angler data collection and fisheries legislation. One of the most challenging aspects of hosting the summit this year was trying to cram the myriad of hot-button issues in fisheries policy, science, and management into a three-hour window.

“I’m not sure anyone working on fisheries policy can remember a time when there’s been this much going on,” said Chris Macaluso, TRCP director of the Center for Fisheries and Mississippi River Program.

Fisheries Priorities for the Trump Administration and Congress

Fisheries policy experts from TRCP, ASA, Center for Sportfishing Policy, and Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation highlighted and discussed nearly a dozen management and conservation policies and legislative matters that organizations are together working to advance over the course of the next year and beyond. The recent federal budget reconciliation process in Congress delayed other fisheries legislation this year, with panelists optimistically noting that Congress should be able to address other issues now that the reconciliation bill has passed. The panel also discussed the makeup of the new Trump administration’s fisheries-oriented agency leads; potential reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (the primary law controlling marine fisheries management in U.S. waters); transferring management of the South Atlantic red snapper fishery to Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina; and the impact new tariffs have had on recreational fishing, tackle, and boating.

“There has been significant positive action taken by the Trump administration, including withdrawing both the North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Speed Rule and the bottom fishing closure proposed off northeast Florida,” said Mike Leonard, vice president of government affairs for the American Sportfishing Association. “On the flip side of that, there’s the negative aspect of tariffs. It’s created an incredible amount of uncertainty in our industry.”

Video Premier: “Steel to Sanctuary: The Rigs to Reef Story”

Produced by Arena Energy in cooperation with CSF, this 30-minute documentary was shared publicly last week for the first time at the summit. The film showcases the remarkable habitat provided by energy-producing platforms off the Gulf Coast states and the need to protect this habitat in that region and elsewhere from being removed from coastal waters. This is critical because in the next decade, nearly half of the approximately 1,500 remaining rigs could be removed.

“What aspects of Rigs to Reefs could we fix from the bureaucratic perspective?” asked Chris Horton, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation’s senior director, fisheries policy. He offered that one way to achieve greater efficiency in retired rig protection is ensuring continuity of support at all levels – federal, state, nonprofit, and corporate.

Helping Fish Stocks Recover Through Stock Enhancement

A panel of fish hatchery experts and supporters including Bill Shedd, CEO of AFTCO, and staff from the Alabama Department of Conservation and Coastal Conservation Association Alabama highlighted the successes and discussed the limitations of efforts to help improve fish stocks in the Gulf states, California, and beyond through introduction of hatchery-born fish. One goal was to help states that aren’t currently active in stock enhancements learn from successful programs that currently supplement natural fish stocks with hundreds of thousands of hatchery-raised white sea bass, southern flounder, Florida pompano, and spotted seatrout each year. Topics that rose to the top were the importance of hatcheries for aquaculture, of obtaining breeding-size fish from recreational anglers making live donations in tournaments, and recognizing how sensitive fish can be to environmental changes that can have an outsized impact on hatchery success.

Maxwell Westendorf, hatchery manager with the Alabama Department of Conservation’s Marine Resources Division, emphasized that even minor stressors to southern flounder during early juvenile development – such as changing water temperature a few degrees up or down – can trigger masculinizing the young fish such that nearly the entire stock becomes male.

“Which begs the question, our oceans are warming up and will fish populations be able to keep up with these changes?” Westendorf said.

Fixing Data Collection to Improve Fishing Access

Moderated by Brett Fitzgerald of the Angler Action Foundation, a panel of experts from CCA Maryland, The Nature Conservancy, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission discussed technological advances and the use of “citizen science” to help narrow the gaps in state and federal data collection regarding recreational fishing. They also talked about tracking and tackling the problem of aquatic invasive species using data provided by recreational anglers. For example, CCA Maryland Executive Director David Sikorski said that through partnerships with groups including Yamaha Rightwaters, tournaments like the Great Chesapeake Invasives Count help track the spread and prevalence of Bay invasives like snakeheads, flathead catfish, and blue catfish.

Panelists acknowledged that a problem with fisheries data collection and release has been that managers lack sufficient data, largely because some anglers don’t trust agencies or organizations that supply the information that leads to reasonable regulations. “We have this issue here where anglers don’t trust the data, so they won’t give data to fisheries managers,” said David Moss, fisheries project manager for The Nature Conservancy. This leads to insufficient data to guide regulations, which creates a vicious cycle. But he also reminded the room how sound fisheries management benefits individual angling interests as well as future generations, referring to what can be gained for himself and his daughter.

“I tell everyone I do this because I want a fishery for her,” Moss said. “But I also want a fishery for me.”

Thank You, Sponsors and Presenters!

We want to extend our sincere appreciation to the panelists and attendees of the 2025 summit. We also want to thank this year’s sponsors, ASA and CSF, who made the summit possible.

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