InFish is a professional network to raise the profile of inland fish to inform policy, advance conservation, and promote sustainable fisheries.
Please join us!
Recent relevant news/ publications
- The role and potential of inland fisheries in low-emission food production and climate change mitigation (Coates et al. 2025)
- Freshwater and Diadromous Fishes of Puerto Rico (Kwak et al. 2025)
- Why Do (Or Don’t) People Protect Nature? Insights From Conservation Practice and Environmental Psychology to Respond to the Biodiversity Crisis (van Eeden et al. 2025)
- Biocultural Indicator Manual: A Guide for the Development & Implementation of Biocultural Indicator Frameworks (the First Nations Fishery Legacy Fund & the Centre for Indigenous Fisheries 2024)
- Review of the state of the world fishery resources: Inland fisheries (FAO 2024)
- The Delta: #81 (Global Water Forum newsletter)
- WorldFish Monthly: December 2024
- The Stream: February 2025, March 2025 (Shoal)
Job / funding / award opportunities
- Freshwater Life, Managing Director. Applications accepted on a rolling basis. Apply now! Contact Bernie Tershy (tershy-at-ucsc.edu) for more information.
- World Water at UC Davis: Advanced Studies Institute in International Approaches to Freshwater Ecosystem Sustainability & Management. Applications due 11 April 2025. Must be an MS, PhD, or law student researching water science, ecology, engineering, or management. Award will cover travel and program expenses.
- Michigan State: Assistant Professor – Tenure System – Water Quality and Impacts of Climate Change. Intended start date is Fall 2026. Apply by 15 April 2025 for full consideration.
Inland Fisheries
Freshwater fish provide food, livelihoods, and ecosystem services to millions of people, especially in low-income countries, yet their value is generally not adequately considered in water use, energy, and development decisions. Freshwater fisheries around the world may appear to be very different, but their value to local communities and the threats to their sustainability are often similar.
The challenges to inland fisheries are also critical to the 60 million people who rely on freshwater fish for livelihoods – over half of whom are women. Fish is also an essential source of protein and other nutrients that cannot easily be replaced with other food sources.
InFish & SDG 1
The contribution of inland fisheries to resilient livelihoods, those which are buffered against difficult situations, is multifaceted and difficult to evaluate. Inland fisheries in Low-Income Food-Deficit countries are often part of a diversified livelihood strategy, exacerbating the tendency for them to be overlooked and undervalued. The challenge is in available data to highlight this role.
Grand Challenges
Even with long-standing management and extensive science support, North American inland fish and fisheries still face many conservation and management challenges. Addressing these grand challenges will promote open forums for engagement of diverse stakeholders in fisheries management, and better integrate the inland fish sector into the greater water and land use policy process.
Importance of InFish
Though reported capture fisheries are dominated by marine production, inland fish and fisheries make substantial contributions to meeting the challenges faced by individuals, society, and the environment in a changing global landscape. Inland capture fisheries and aquaculture contribute over 40% to the world’s reported finfish production from less than 0.01% of the total volume of water on earth.