Fisheries have traditionally been managed on the principle of “the bigger the better," with legal minimum size. This has a negative impact on fecundity and consequently on recruitment, as the bigger animals have a higher fecundity. Which means that fisheries are based upon the exploitation of the reproductive stock. My proposal is to change from minimum legal size to a maximum legal size, preventing the catch of the reproductive stock and inducing the catch of the juvenile and sub adult fraction of the population. This measure will recover the reproductive potential of most exploited populations and give a surplus of juveniles for commercial fishing. This could easily be implemented on benthic resources, and stratified fish populations.
Erick Baqueiro Cardenas