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
- The U.S. Inland Creel and Angler Survey Catalog (CreelCat): Development, Applications, and Opportunities (Lynch et al. 2021)
- TNC Restorative Aquaculture for Nature and Communities report
- Effects of deforestation from cattle ranching over time on protected rainforest streams in the Rama-Kriol Territory, Nicaragua (Betts et al. 2021)
- Assessing the societal benefits of mahseer (Tor spp.) fishes to strengthen the basis for their conservation (Everard et al. 2021)
- Prioritizing native migratory fish passage restoration while limiting the spread of invasive species: A case study in the Upper Mississippi River (Cooper et al. 2021)
- Electronic pingers protect river dolphins and benefit communities (WWF news release)
- Surfacing inland fisheries in our biodiversity crisis response (Inland Fisheries Alliance blog)
- Aquatic foods to nourish nations (Golden et al. 2021)
- A global dataset of inland fisheries expert knowledge (Stokes et al. 2021) and associated Story Map. Thank you to those that contributed to this survey dataset!
Job/grant opportunities
- Apply for the AFS International Fisheries Section OLAF membership award. Eligibility is now expanded to include Indigenous Peoples!
- FAO Senior Fishery Resources Officer (Inland Fisheries)
- Assistant/Associate Professor, Quantitative Fisheries Science in the School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences in the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at U. of Florida
- NSERC Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Data Science and Modelling for Coastal Ecosystems (University of New Brunswick’s Saint John Campus)
- Postdoctoral Associate – Aquaculture Sustainability in the Amazon (Cornell University)
- Post-doctoral research associate in climate change and fisheries (U. of Missouri): For more information, contact Craig Paukert (paukertc-at-missouri.edu).
- Postdoctoral scientist in freshwater ecology and habitat modeling (U. of Alaska Fairbanks – AK CRU): Open until filled, preferred starting period Autumn/ Winter 2021. For more information, see attached announcement and contact Jeff Falke (jfalke4-at-alaska.edu)
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.
