Commercial and recreational fisheries contribute several billion dollars a year to the national economy. Fish and their habitat are also a valuable tourist attraction, creating local income not directly related to fishing activities. They also generate social benefits such as support for traditional native lifestyles and remote communities.
Few people realize that fishing activity is closely related to the quality of the environment.
However, maintaining healthy fish habitat is vital to sustaining the economic and social benefits that fisheries provide. The ways people affect fish habitat are not always readily apparent. Simply looking at a river, lake or coastal bay does not always reveal the damage that may have occurred beneath the surface. This policy calls for an overall net gain in the productive capacity of fish habitat and promotes habitat conservation and protection through the application of a guiding principle centered on achieving No Net Loss of habitat's capacity to produce fish.