World Fish Migration Day Connects Fish, Rivers, and People – From a One‐Day Event to a Broader Social Movement

Abstract

Widespread declines in migratory fish highlight the need for increased global efforts to raise awareness of their value and abate threats they face. World Fish Migration Day (WFMD), coordinated by the World Fish Migration Foundation, is a biennial global celebration of open rivers and migratory fish achieved through locally organized events with the common theme of connecting fish, rivers, and people. Since 2014, over 1,200 events have been organized in 80 different countries across all inhabited continents. Here we provide an overview of the WFMD social movement, highlighting its ability to raise awareness surrounding the plight of migratory fish. We provide pertinent case studies to illustrate the creative events held throughout the world intended to build the public and political will to enable protection and restoration of migratory fish populations. From a coordination perspective, there are several key principles that underlay the success of WFMD, including taking an optimistic approach, identifying change-makers in the community, and carefully timing the growth of the movement. By reflecting on the approach and growth of WFMD, we feel this perspective piece will prove useful to other groups and organizations considering using the power of social movements to achieve common goals related to environmental conservation.

Reflections from the team: Co‐creating visual media about ecological processes for young people

“…The original idea was to create a rhymed lyric poem (Poets.Org, 2021) to explore processes and senses associated with fish migration and the River Tawe, Wales. The FIRE Lab team planned to use the poem for in‐person engagement with young people and families in Wales for World Fish Migration Day—a biennial global celebration aimed at raising awareness about migratory fishes and the people and ecosystems that depend on them (Twardek et al., 2020). The lyric poem was to be performed by young people along rivers and public green spaces.…”

Communicating for Aquatic Conservation in Cambodia and Beyond: Lessons Learned from In-Person and Media-Based Environmental Education and Outreach Strategies

“…An effective way to build trust with new audiences, or those that are unfamiliar with the subject matter, is through face-to-face communication [60][61][62][63][64]. Therefore, many environmental organizations use in-person outreach events and activities as a way to celebrate, raise awareness, or generate pride for the environment [35]. These informal learning experiences can foster an understanding that conservation can be personally relevant, rewarding, and enjoyable [65].…”

“…Joining events that do not have an overt conservation or scientific focus can help reach new audiences who might not have actively sought out such information, and engage with them in a relaxed setting where people are typically open to novel experiences [65]. Coordinated events such as World Fish Migration Day can be used as part of a broader social movement to shift norms, such as promoting the importance of free-flowing rivers for fishes [35].…”

“…Information on conservation initiatives distributed via news stories and other media pieces carries the added benefit of third-party credibility, and is generally perceived as more objective and unbiased than information distributed by the organization conducting the initiative [84]. The general public often gains awareness of environmental issues and conservation programs through news media [86], and traditional media sources are one way for conservation organizations to reach policy makers [35]. In Cambodia, government ministries have previously worked with national television and radio stations to broadcast segments related to environmental education, including quiz shows [25].…”

“…Defining the scope of an audience (e.g., national vs. international) will influence the choice of language for communication, as well as the platforms used [30,34]. Successful communication campaigns also rely on crafting compelling messages that resonate with the target audience [30,34,35]. The same message can be adapted to different media or communication tools to broaden its reach.…”