The Past, Present and Future Role of Limnology in Freshwater Fisheries Science

Abstract

Limnology has greatly influenced the field of freshwater fisheries science, particularly fisheries biology. However, both fields became increasingly disconnected during the 20 th century, when major research traditions within limnology became more tightly focused and humans, even fish, were externalized. A paradigm shift occurring within freshwater fisheries science today is redefining research questions and approaches and is further challenging the role of limnology within fisheries science. Modern fisheries science has become a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and sometimes transdisciplinary endeavour that melds the social with the natural sciences to understand fisheries as social-ecological systems. Limnology remains important to capture some of the dynamics inherent in social-ecological fisheries systems, but becomes one of the many necessary scientific disciplines of fisheries science, rather than the primary supporting science that it used to be. To improve scholarly communication between limnologists and freshwater fisheries scientists, major shifts in perspective are needed. It is hardly understandable why fish are only regarded as a component of the aquatic ecosystem or a means for biomanipulation in modern textbooks on limnology or limno-ecology, while the fisheries science as a natural component of theoretical and applied limnology in the spirit of THIENEMANN is not mentioned in the table of contents!H.-J. ELSTER, 1993 (translated from German) IntroductionLimnology as a scientific discipline studies the structure and function of inland waters. It has been called a subfield of ecology (LAMPERT and SOMMER, 1999) that includes "everything that affects fresh water" (NAUMANN and THIENEMANN, 1922). This encompasses biological, physical, chemical, geological and hydrological aspects. Limnological thinking, from its early days in the late 19 th century, has greatly influenced freshwater fisheries science, particularly freshwater fisheries biology (ELSTER, 1974(ELSTER, , 1993. Limnology itself has traditionally been viewed as a "synthetic science for which purely zoological or botanical * Corresponding author 542 R. ARLINGHAUS et al.

Trends in Fisheries Science from 2000 to 2009: A Bibliometric Study

“…Although the fisheries science represents a wide, both multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary, scientific field (Arlinghaus et al, 2008), the object of the present study was the fisheries science in its narrower sense, which typically focuses on the actual fishing industry, primarily on the assessment of fish stocks, fishery yield, and the sustainability of fisheries. Accordingly, the following phrase was used as the search query: "(fish * AND yield * ) OR (fish * AND harvest * ) OR (fish * AND sustainab * ) OR (fish * AND stock * )" to search within the titles of articles published between 2000 and 2009.…”

Fish life history, angler behaviour and optimal management of recreational fisheries

“…Our intention here is not to provide predictions for a particular fishery, but to gain general insights into the influence of LHT and angler diversity on the dynamics of a coupled social–ecological system, by bridging the traditional divide between fisheries science and social science (Arlinghaus et al . ; Fulton et al . ; Fenichel et al .…”

Illustrating the critical role of human dimensions research for understanding and managing recreational fisheries within a social‐ecological system framework

“…Lack of awareness of human dimensions theory and research by recreational fisheries managers and biologists has resulted in two challenges. fisher dissatisfaction) as externalities or politics that only disturbs the biologically motivated management process (Arlinghaus et al 2008). Fenichel et al (2012) noted that although many biologists are keenly interested in understanding recreational fishers and their actions, publications seldom acknowledge the large body of research conducted on human dimensions.…”

“…Larkin 1978;McConnell & Sutinen 1979;Royce 1983;Arlinghaus et al 2008;Fulton et al 2011;Post & Parkinson 2012). Fisheries researchers and managers have called for greater integration of human behaviour into recreational fisheries analyses (e.g.…”