Principles for ensuring healthy and productive freshwater ecosystems that support sustainable fisheries

Abstract

Freshwater ecosystems and the fisheries they support are increasingly threatened by human activities. To aid in their management and protection, we outline nine key principles for supporting healthy and productive ecosystems based on the best available science, including laws of physics and chemistry apply to ecology; population dynamics are regulated by reproduction, mortality, and growth; habitat quantity and quality are prerequisites of fish productivity; connectivity among habitats is essential for movements of fishes and their resources; freshwater species and their habitats are tightly linked to surrounding watersheds; biodiversity can enhance ecosystem resiliency and productivity; global processes affect local populations; anthropogenic stressors have cumulative effects; and evolutionary processes can be important. Based on these principles, we provide general recommendations for managing and protecting freshwater ecosystems and the fisheries they support, with examples of successful implementation for each strategy. Key management strategies include engage and consult with stakeholders; ensure that agencies have sufficient capacity, legislation, and authority to implement policies and management plans; define metrics by which fisheries resources and management success or failure will be measured; identify and account for threats to ecosystem productivity; adopt the precautionary approach to management; embrace adaptive management; implement ecosystem-based management; account for all ecosystem services provided by aquatic ecosystems; protect and restore habitat as the foundation for fisheries; and protect biodiversity. Ecosystems are complex with many intertwined components and ignoring linkages and processes significantly reduces the probability of management success. These principles must be considered when identifying management options and developing policies aiming to protect productive freshwater ecosystems and sustainable fisheries.

On the sustainability of inland fisheries: Finding a future for the forgotten

“…All too often management occurs in the absence of assessment or assessment occurs and is not directly linked to the fisheries management cycle or integrated into adaptive management or an ecosystem approach framework. As such, the evidence-based approaches to management so sorely needed in inland waters (Lapointe et al 2014;De Graaf et al 2015) are impossible to realize. A lack of reliable information on the status of inland fisheries makes decision-making problematic and led to Bartley et al (2015) posing a number of questions: Is the inland fisheries sector suffering from the multiple uses of and threats to inland water ecosystems?…”

Bidirectional connectivity in rivers and implications for watershed stability and management

“…While enormous investment goes into engineering infrastructure to try to cope with variability (e.g., dams, levees, water-treatment facilities), conserving the natural systems that confer stability represents an opportunity for proactive management Bisson et al 2009;Healey 2009;Lapointe et al 2014). For salmon and the fisheries targeting them in particular, practices that degrade resilience include allowing extirpation of small populations, reducing life history and genetic diversity, and degradation of habitat (Healey 2009).…”

“…Practices that facilitate resilience include protecting small populations, maintaining habitat, diversified fisheries, and managing for community resilience (Healey 2009). Indeed, policies that protect habitats and fish populations will preserve the existing portfolios of salmon biodiversity that enable stability and resilience (Ruckelshaus et al 2002;Schindler et al 2008Schindler et al , 2010Healey 2009;Moore et al 2010;Lapointe et al 2014;Anderson et al 2015). While there have been frameworks developed to achieve these goals (i.e., Wild Salmon Policy; Fisheries and Oceans Canada 2005), these frameworks arguably lack strong implementation or accountability.…”

“…Fish represent a key example of a natural resource that is supported by river systems. Fisheries provide important economic and cultural resources globally as well as in Canada; many of these fisheries target migratory fishes such as anadromous salmon (Lapointe et al 2014). Recreational fisheries contributed a total of $8.3 billion to the economy of Canada in 2010 through buying supplies, equipment, and costs of fishing trips (Fisheries and Oceans Canada 2012).…”

The effectiveness of spawning habitat creation or enhancement for substrate spawning temperate fish: a systematic review protocol

“…Habitat is the foundation for healthy and productive fisheries [1]. When critical habitats are degraded or altered, their ability to function (e.g., for reproduction, rearing) may be compromised [2].…”