InFish is a professional network to raise the profile of inland fish to inform policy, advance conservation, and promote sustainable fisheries.
Please join us!
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
- Earth’s Greatest Underwater Migrations Are Disappearing (Sturgeon 2026 – Inside Climate News)
- Accounting for Non-native Freshwater Fish in the Mekong River: Towards a Better Understanding for Management (Cowx et al. 2026)
- Cambodian market survey a snapshot of a resilient — but stressed — Mekong (Mongabay - Lovgren 2026)
- Fishing ban halts seven decades of biodiversity decline in the Yangtze River (Xiong et al. 2026)
- Understanding Recreational Fishers: Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Approaches for Fisheries Management (Pope et al. 2026 – OPEN ACCESS book)
- World Rivers Day Update: #5
- The Delta: #95 (Global Water Forum newsletter)
- The Stream: March 2026 (Shoal)
- World Fish Migration Day Newsletter: September 2025
- WorldFish Monthly: December 2025
- ACARE Newsletter: May 2025
Job / funding / award opportunities
- University of Florida - Assistant/Associate Professor – Fresh-Water Fish & Habitat Management. For full consideration, candidates should apply and submit materials by May 30, 2026. The position will remain open until a viable applicant pool is determined. Contact Gretchen Lescord (lescord.g-at-ufl.edu) with inquires.
- Baylor University - Stokes Lab - fully funded PhD position [starting August 2026]. Open until filled. Contact Gretchen Stokes (gretchen_stokes-at-baylor.edu) with inquiries.
- Stanford University - Heilpern Lab opportunities (graduate students [starting Fall 2026], a postdoc, and a lab technician/manager [someone skilled in data management/analysis who is also open to some lab work]). Contact Sebastian Heilpern (heilpern-at-stanford.edu) with inquiries.
- International Fisheries Section of the American Fisheries Society:
- Danida Fellowship Centre - New initiative to attract more African students to Denmark and strengthen university collaboration
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.