Conservation"Wildlife conservation is the science of analyzing and protecting the Earth’s biological diversity, which is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, or for the entire Earth" (wildlifeconservation.org). Rules and regulations can be very beneficial to the conservation of fish. In the 60s and 70s the red drum population off the coast of Texas was decimated by commercial fishing. Pressure from the GCCA (Gulf Coast Conservation Association) led to the passing of the red drum conservation act in the 1970's. This progress in Texas and other conservation bills throughout the country led to the 1986 ban of commercial red fishing in federal gulf waters. Since then, Red Drum populations have made a comeback. Regulations such as those imposed on Red Drum can and have worked with other species to ensure their survival. With the rise in these game fish regulations, states throughout the good ole U. S. of A have implemented their own rules to keep the keystone species population in tact. The conservation regulations on the Redfish and the ban on commercial Red fishing have led to a boom in redfish populations. This boom has created a whole new type of commercial industry: commercial sport fishing. Commercial sport fishing has created a whole new type of commercial fisherman, the fishing guide while also creating a new boat and tackle industry. This industry has led to a boom in coastal towns like Texas and other gulf coast towns along the U.S.A. Another important step in the conservation game fish is the Billfish Conservation Act. This was signed into law by President Obama in 2012. It effectively bans Billfish importation into the continental United States. The U.S. imported 30,000 billfish before this law. This includes all species of Marlin, sailfish and spearfish. It is hopeful that the Billfish Conservation Act will lead to growth in the already successful bill fish sport fishing industry just as the conservation for redfish did. As more and more people fall in love with sport fishing for red fish and other fish the better chance the species has to survive because people will fight to protect what they love.
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