One of the United States’ largest fisheries is hiding in plain sight. Recreational freshwater anglers in the lower 48 states catch – and keep – far more fish than any official body has estimated, according to new research from our team of North American fishery scientists.

Specifically, our analysis, which integrated thousands of recreational fishing surveys across the U.S., found that people who engage in recreational fishing in the country’s lakes, ponds and reservoirs catch between 2 billion and 6 billion fish each year. Many of them practice catch-and-release fishing, but even after accounting for all the fish released, we estimated that they keep between 230,000 and 670,000 metric tons of fish in the U.S. alone.

That’s between 17 and 48 times more fish than prior U.S. estimates that have been reported to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization.

And it’s about 20% of the United States’ total recorded annual consumption of fresh fish that has not been frozen. We estimated the value of the recreational fish catch is roughly US$3 billion a year. By contrast, domestic commercial processed fishery products are valued at about US$12 billion a year.

Historically, most researchers and policymakers viewed recreational fishing as a leisure activity rather than a significant part of the nation’s food supply.

However, for many households, recreationally harvested fish – fish that people catch and keep, often to eat – represent a meaningful source of protein at very low cost. By recognizing this unseen harvest as a significant food source,........

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