Managing Canadian freshwater fisheries: persistent challenges and emerging opportunities

Freshwater fisheries and biodiversity have substantial economic, socio-cultural, and ecological value, but face severe and mounting anthropogenic threats. Canada's freshwater fisheries are not exempt from this, and provide excellent opportunities to better understand these overlooked and underv...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian journal of fisheries and aquatic sciences 2023-09, Vol.80 (9), p.1436-1455
Main Authors: Howarth, Andrew, Nguyen, Vivian M, Cooke, Steven J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anthropogenic factors
Biodiversity
Environmental aspects
Fisheries
Fishery management
Fishes, Fresh-water
Fresh water
Freshwater fish
Methods
Problem solving
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Summary:Freshwater fisheries and biodiversity have substantial economic, socio-cultural, and ecological value, but face severe and mounting anthropogenic threats. Canada's freshwater fisheries are not exempt from this, and provide excellent opportunities to better understand these overlooked and undervalued systems. Using expert and chain-referral sampling, we surveyed practitioners from across Canada about the management of freshwater fisheries. We used a mixed methods approach to identify and describe in detail many important aspects of the above processes, including 10 persistent and innate challenges in (1) bureaucratic sprawl, (2) lack of priority, (3) scope, (4) competing interests, (5) political inconstancy, (6) socio-ecological complexity, (7) limited tools, (8) geographies and scale, (9) reactivity, and (10) intersectoral frictions. Many of these challenges defy conventional problem solving (e.g., advocacy, basic science), leading to chronic incapacity and triage management in some freshwater fisheries. We highlight opportunities to increase management capacity, using innovation where conventional solutions fall short (e.g., using novel technologies to increase management scope). Achieving sustainability in Canadian freshwater fisheries will require ingenuity and supportive contributions beyond those that currently exist.
ISSN:0706-652X
1205-7533
DOI:10.1139/cjfas-2023-0011