Are we doing all we can to stem the tide of illegal fish stocking?

They’ve been called “bucket biologists” or “midnight managers” but these nicknames belie the ignorance and selfishness of individuals who engage in illegal stocking. Their actions are defeating multi-million dollar native fish recovery projects, damaging sustainable recreational fisheries worth billions of dollars, threatening native species with extinction, and diverting dwindling agency resources away from programs that benefit fishing and aquatic resources into expensive and often perpetual remediation programs. Illegal stocking is creating a growing burden on agencies and on society, and its impacts can be irreversible. The problem is global and yet there appears to be little collaboration across jurisdictions to seek solutions. We contend that the fisheries profession can and must do a better job of preventing illegal fish stocking through more strategic education programs, proactive regulatory policy, universally severe penalties, an international reward pool, and inter-jurisdictional collaboration.