Largemouth bass are among the most popular sportfish in North America and much of the effort by state agencies and their management biologists are to ensure that bass populations stay healthy. The term “black bass” encompasses the various species of the freshwater basses, including the largemouth bass, the Florida bass, the smallmouth bass and the sixteen other species. Yes, that is right — there are currently a total of 19 species of black bass species of the genus Micropterus.
Thus, lots of attention is given to research, management and conservation, and it’s vital that the people who work on these issues communicate and work together.
To meet that need, the Fisheries Conservation Foundation designed the Black Bass Symposium to facilitate information exchange, as well as opportunities to debate, discuss, and brainstorm ideas. Unlike many scientific meetings, the organizers of BB2025 wanted to embrace all the players in bass fisheries, and involved industry leaders, business owners, guides, anglers, and the angling media to be a central part of the program.
The symposium offered plenty of the standard 12-minute talks that presented findings, successes, challenges, etc., but the real heart of the symposium was the interactive sessions. The format for these sessions started with brief introductory presentations followed by a lively panel discussion that encouraged questions and comments from the audience. The topics and highlights were:
Future-Proofing:
Future-proofing is the idea that the world is changing — from public sentiment toward fishing, to climate change, to geopolitical forces, to emerging pathogens, and so on — and that we (anglers, managers, industry leaders, scientists) need to figure out where we want to be 10 or 25 years from now and make sure we have a plan to get there.
Short presentation and discussions were held on the following topics:
- Impacts of climatic changes
- Advancing Technology – Live sonar used in recreational anglig
- Shifting cultural and socio-economic drivers
- Emerging and persistent threats to bass habitats and populations
- Long-term (evolutionary) and short-term (demographic) impacts of angling
- Re-envisioning the relationship between resource users and
- Modernizing the management toolbox
While there wasn’t agreement on how best to approach each topic, the insights and perspectives that were presented provided a deeper understanding of the issues. In many instances, the stakeholder groups found they were closer in their attitudes than previously thought, which is always a good place to be!
NEXUS of Bass Fishing – Industry – Management
This session focused on the intersection of players in the bass fishing world: recreational anglers, professional tournament fishing, industry, media, researchers, and managers. A key agreement from the Nexus session was that building partnerships among stakeholders is needed. For example, podcasters and other fishing media gurus emphasized that their platforms were perfect for sharing bass science and management with the masses. Managers emphasized that their work was irrelevant if they did not have the support of the angler community. Scientists recognized the benefits of involving anglers in their research programs. Businesses and non-profits expressed their interest in forming alliances. The combined message was clear: It is time to leave our silos and set a standard for working together.
The Summit
The Bass Summit consisted of a one-day event with a goal of exploring viable solutions for a sustainable future for black bass. Small round-table teams were organized around eight topics to share their perspectives. Each team discussed the issues and then brainstormed potential solutions, with a final assignment of constructing a plan of action around one of the viable solutions. Topics included how best to recruit and retain young anglers in bass fishing, climatic changes, overfishing recruitment, and communication challenges.
There are not many opportunities in the fisheries management world where fish chiefs, anglers, outdoor writers, policy analysts, professors, graduate students, business owners, industry leaders, and media specialists sit as equal partners and just have fun sharing their ideas and perspectives. That was part of the magic during the day of round-tables.
The end of the day brought everyone together and each team presented their various solutions to the eight topics.
Project seed money (collected as part of the fundraising efforts for the Symposium), will fund the best of the round-table concepts. Full proposals with designated leaders and partners are currently being developed to be submitted for funding consideration and will be announced soon.
In addition, scientific proceedings of the management and research talks will be published in a special collection in the North American Journal of Fisheries Management.
Finally, the most inspirational aspect of the conference was the time spent getting to know other like-minded people and that everyone was unified in their committed or responsible management for bass fishing and bass conservation.
See the BB2025 website for the full symposium history, description, and program.
A special thank you for the following individuals that spent many hours to make the symposium a success!
The staff at the American Fisheries Society — with special mention to Lauren Tanner and Tricia Fry
Mark Ridgway, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
Steve Bardin, Texas Pro Lake Management
Tom Lang, Texas Parks and Wildlife
Cory Suski, University of Illinois
Steve Cooke, Carleton University
David Philipp, Fisheries Conservation Foundation
Julie Claussen, Fisheries Conservation Foundation
Livingston Lures for hosting the welcome social
All of the wonderful supportive sponsors
Visit the BB2025 WEBSITE to learn more.
