The Fish Community of the River Thames: Status, Pressures and Management

Hughes, Simon; Willis, Daniel J.

doi:10.1002/9780470696026.ch5

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…2000). With the help of anglers' expenditure, many management programmes have been initiated to conserve stocks of threatened riverine fish species such as Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar L., Salmonidae) (VDSF 2000) or migrating brown trout ( Salmo trutta f. lacustris L., Salmonidae) (Ruhlé 1996; Hughes and Willis 2000; VDSF 2000). In many cases, anglers' expenditure is often the driving force financing inland fisheries and aquatic ecosystem management (e.g.…”

Section: Description Of Inland Fisheries Of Developed Countriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…by flood control, there is the possibility to improve habitat and consequently inland fisheries by adopting an integrated habitat improvement approach (e.g. River Thames case‐study, Banks 1990; Hughes and Willis 2000).…”

Section: Approaching Sustainable Inland Fisheries – Possibilities Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Berlin (Germany), for example, commercial ¢sheries have been accepted as a major actor to improve water quality by reducing the biomass of planktivorous cyprinid ¢shes, i.e. biomanipulation (Grosch et al 2000).With the help of anglers'expenditure, many management programmes have been initiated to conserve stocks of threatened riverine ¢sh species such as Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L., Salmonidae) (VDSF 2000) or migrating brown trout (Salmo trutta f. lacustris L., Salmonidae) (Ruhle¤ 1996;Hughes and Willis 2000;VDSF 2000). In many cases, anglers' expenditure is often the driving force ¢nancing inland ¢sheries and aquatic ecosystem management (e.g.…”

Section: Ecological Bene¢tsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reconciling traditional inland fisheries management and sustainability in industrialized countries, with emphasis on Europe

2002

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In northern industrialized countries, the inland fisheries sector has long been dominated by recreational fisheries, which normally exploit fish for leisure or subsistence and provide many (poorly investigated) benefits to society. Various factors constrain the development and existence of inland fisheries, such as local user conflicts, low social priority and inadequate research and funding. In many cases, however, degradation of the environment and loss of aquatic habitat are the predominant concerns for the sustainability of inland fisheries. The need for concerted effort to prevent and reduce environmental degradation, as well as conservation of freshwater fish and fisheries as renewable common pool resources or entities in their own right is the greatest challenge facing sustainable development of inland waters. In inland fisheries management, the declining quality of the aquatic environment coupled with long‐term inadequate and often inappropriate fisheries management has led to an emphasis on enhancement practices, such as stocking, to mitigate anthropogenic stress. However, this is not always the most appropriate management approach. Therefore, there is an urgent need to alter many traditional inland fisheries management practices and systems to focus on sustainable development. This paper reviews the literature regarding the inputs needed for sustainability of inland fisheries in industrialized countries. To understand better the problems facing sustainable inland fisheries management, the inland fisheries environment, its benefits, negative impacts and constraints, as well as historical management, paradigms, trends and current practices are described. Major philosophical shifts, challenges and promising integrated management approaches are envisaged in a holistic framework. The following are considered key elements for sustainable development of inland fisheries: communication, information dissemination, education, institutional restructuring, marketing outreach, management plans, decision analysis, socioeconomic evaluation and research into the human dimension, in addition to traditional biological and ecological sciences. If these inputs are integrated with traditional fisheries management practices, the prospects for sustainability in the inland fisheries will be enhanced.

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Section: Description Of Inland Fisheries Of Developed Countriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Approaching Sustainable Inland Fisheries – Possibilities Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ecological Bene¢tsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reconciling traditional inland fisheries management and sustainability in industrialized countries, with emphasis on Europe

2002

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“…In the Thames, Gasterosteus aculeatus and Perca fluviatilis were the most important host species for unionids (Berrie & Boize, 1985 ), carrying respectively 55.6% and 33.7% of all sampled glochidia. Thames fish populations appear and are expected to remain stable (Hughes & Willis, 2000 ), with G. aculeatus comprising 44.7% of total fish sampled (Araujo et al, 1999 ). Unionid populations in the Thames are therefore unlikely to be significantly threatened by loss of fish hosts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Declines in freshwater mussel density, size and productivity in the River Thames over the past half century

Ollard

Aldridge

2022

Journal of Animal Ecology

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A pioneering, quantitative study published in Journal of Animal Ecology in 1966 on freshwater mussel populations in the River Thames, UK, continues to be cited extensively as evidence of the major contribution that mussels make to benthic biomass and ecosystem functioning in global river ecosystems. Ecological alteration, as well as declines in freshwater mussel populations elsewhere, suggest that changes to mussel populations in the River Thames are likely to have occurred over the half century since this study. We resurveyed the site reported in Negus (1966) and quantified the changes in mussel population density, species composition, growth patterns and productivity. We found large declines in population density for all unionid species. The duck mussel Anodonta anatina decreased to 1.1% of 1964 density. The painter's mussel Unio pictorum fell to 3.2% of 1964 density. The swollen river mussel Unio tumidus showed statistically nonsignificant declines. In contrast to 1964, in 2020 we found no living specimens of the depressed river mussel Pseudanodonta complanata (classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List) but found new records of the invasive, nonnative zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha and Asian clam Corbicula fluminea. Additionally, we found strong decreases in size‐at‐age for all species, which now grow to 65–90% of maximum lengths in 1964. As a result of reduced density and size, estimated annual biomass production fell to 7.5% of 1964 levels. Since mussels can be important to ecosystem functioning, providing key regulating and provisioning services, the declines we found imply substantial degradation of freshwater ecosystem services in the River Thames, one of the UK's largest rivers. Our study also highlights the importance to conservationists and ecologists of updating and validating assumptions and data about wild populations, which in the present era of anthropogenic ecosystem alteration are undergoing significant and rapid changes. Regular population surveys of key species are essential to maintain an accurate picture of ecosystem health and to guide management.

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“…The environmental objective for this study is embodied in the Teddington target flow matrix, detailing how much water must remain in the river at Teddington Lock. The key influence on this matrix was the maintenance of levels for the purposes of fisheries, particularly for Atlantic salmon [21] returning to the river to spawn. There is also a lesser component for the maintainance of navigation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water Resource Systems Analysis for Water Scarcity Management: The Thames Water Case Study

Morley

Savić

2020

Water

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Optimisation tools are a practical solution to problems involving the complex and interdependent constituents of water resource systems and offer the opportunity to engage with practitioners as an integral part of the optimisation process. A multiobjective genetic algorithm is employed in conjunction with a detailed water resource model to optimise the “Lower Thames Control Diagram”, a set of control curves subject to a large number of constraints. The Diagram is used to regulate abstraction of water for the public drinking water supply for London, UK, and to maintain downstream environmental and navigational flows. The optimisation is undertaken with the aim of increasing the amount of water that can be supplied (deployable output) through solely operational changes. A significant improvement of 33 Ml/day (1% or £59.4 million of equivalent investment in alternative resources) of deployable output was achieved through the optimisation, improving the performance of the system whilst maintaining the level of service constraints without negatively impacting on the amount of water released downstream. A further 0.2% (£11.9 million equivalent) was found to be realisable through an additional low-cost intervention. A more realistic comparison of solutions indicated even larger savings for the utility, as the baseline solution did not satisfy the basic problem constraints. The optimised configuration of the Lower Thames Control Diagram was adopted by the water utility and the environmental regulators and is currently in use.

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The Fish Community of the River Thames: Status, Pressures and Management

Cited by 4 publications

References 21 publications

Reconciling traditional inland fisheries management and sustainability in industrialized countries, with emphasis on Europe

Reconciling traditional inland fisheries management and sustainability in industrialized countries, with emphasis on Europe

Declines in freshwater mussel density, size and productivity in the River Thames over the past half century

Water Resource Systems Analysis for Water Scarcity Management: The Thames Water Case Study

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