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 publications
- Assessing the societal benefits of mahseer (Tor spp.) fishes to strengthen the basis for their conservation (Everard et al. 2021)
- COVID-19 influences on US recreational angler behavior (Midway et al. 2021)
- Small-scale fisheries and local food systems: Transformations, threats and opportunities (Arthur et al. 2021)
- A photovoice assessment for illuminating the role of inland fisheries to livelihoods and the local challenges experienced through the lens of fishers in a climate-driven lake of Malawi (Simmance et al. 2021; also see related FISHBIO blog)
- The Ten Steps to Responsible Inland Fisheries in Practice: Reflections from Diverse Regional Case Studies Around the Globe (Cooke et al. 2021)
- A global dataset of inland fisheries expert knowledge (Stokes et al. 2021) Thank you to those that contributed to this survey dataset!
Job/grant opportunities
- FAO Equitable Livelihoods Group Fisheries livelihoods consultant (2101390): Apply by 8 September 2021
- Tenure-track Assistant or Associate Professor in Social-Ecological Systems Analysis in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment at Cornell University
- PhD or MS position on the socio-ecological dimensions of provisioning fisheries in the Great Lakes (Virginia Tech): For more information, contact Leandro Castello (leandro@vt.edu). To apply, email [in one PDF document] a letter of interest, curriculum vitae, transcripts, and contact information for three references. The letter of interest must address: (i) your research interests, (ii) why you are interested in this particular position, and (iii) why you feel qualified to successfully complete a PhD in this project. Start date: January 2022.
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.
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.
Inland fisheries around the world – and the people who depend on them for food, livelihoods, and well-being – need international cross-sectoral action to improve the sustainability of freshwater aquatic resources, according to recommendations in 2015 at the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) meeting at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome.
