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 Great Lakes named Mission Blue’s First Freshwater Hope Spot (National Public Radio interview; Fox 32 interview)
- People need freshwater biodiversity: Nine reasons freshwater biodiversity is important for humans
- The 8th World Fisheries Congress – Sharing Our Oceans and Rivers, a Vision for the World's Fisheries (Special issue of Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries)
- Chasing Giants: In Search of the World's Largest Freshwater Fish (Hogan and Lovgren 2023)
- Chasing Giants (Nevada Public Radio)
- Standing up for Freshwater Biodiversity
- Launch of largest river and wetland restoration initiative in history – the Freshwater Challenge
- I fish, therefore I monitor: Participatory monitoring to assess inland small-scale fisheries (Amorium Reis-Filho et al. 2023)
- Robust river governance key to restoring Mekong River vitality in face of dams and As hydropower dams quell the Mekong’s life force, what are the costs? (Mongabay)
- Great Lakes Take Global Stage
- IYAFA March newsletter
- Shoal March newsletter
- People need freshwater biodiversity (Lynch et al. 2023)
- Putting the fish into inland fisheries – A global allocation of historic inland fish catch (Ainsworth et al. 2023)
Job / funding / award opportunities
- Virginia Tech – Postdoctoral Associate, Quantitative Conservation Biology. Help build and test a systematic indicator of species vulnerability to climate change with applicability across multiple species. Open until filled but apply by 16 June for full consideration and contact Meryl Mims (mims-at-vt.edu) with any questions.
- University of Minnesota - Postdoctoral Associate, Climate change impacts on freshwater fisheries. Join a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional working on climate change impacts and adaptation related to Midwestern lakes and fisheries. Open until filled but apply by 19 May for full consideration and contact Gretchen Hansen (ghansen-at-umn.edu) with any questions.
- University of California – Santa Cruz – Postdoctoral Scholar, Fisheries Collaborative Program. Contact James Gilbert (james.gilbert-at-ucsc.edu) with any questions.
- Shedd Aquarium – Manager, Center for Species Survival. Working closely with IUCN SSC and other stakeholders, this new position will play a key role in implementing the IUCN Assess-Plan-Act model for freshwater biodiversity in Central America. Position open until filled.
- Charles Sturt University Next Generation Water Engineering and River Management Hub Scholarships for PhD students. Expressions of interest will remain open until candidates for the three projects have been selected. See here for more information.
Do you participate in freshwater fishing in the US?
Please consider completing this short (< 20 minutes!) online survey. The study will investigate subsistence fishing, food security, and climate vulnerability of American communities.
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.
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.