The ten steps to responsible Inland fisheries in practice: reflections from diverse regional case studies around the globe

Abstract

Inland fisheries make substantial contributions to food security and livelihoods locally, regionally, and globally but their conservation and management have been largely overlooked by policy makers. In an effort to remedy this limited recognition, a cross-sectoral community of scientists, practitioners, and policy makers from around the world convened a high-level meeting in 2015 at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations headquarters in Rome, Italy to develop recommendations for sustainable inland fisheries management. This meeting resulted in the production of the Rome Declaration, outlining ten key steps needed to achieve responsible inland fisheries. When the Ten Steps were conceived, they were framed in a global context because inland fisheries around the world face similar

Towards vibrant fish populations and sustainable fisheries that benefit all: learning from the last 30 years to inform the next 30 years

“…In freshwater systems, the Rome Declaration (see https://www.fao.org/inland-fisheries/topics/detail/en/c/1142047/ ) includes ten steps to responsible inland fisheries with explicit calls for improvements in governance (see Cooke et al 2016 ). Yet, challenges remain with little evidence of widespread improvements (Lynch et al 2020 ; Cooke et al 2021 ), and certain of these key instruments being technically narrow in their approaches, especially with respect to the human dimensions.…”

Resilient rivers and connected marine systems: a review of mutual sustainability opportunities

“…The combination of these factors makes understanding impacts difficult (Bartley et al, 2015). Progress towards improving inland fisheries, as suggested by the United Nation's Rome Declaration (Cooke et al, 2021), has become constrained by these limitations and in many cases freshwater fisheries are heavily fished (Lynch et al, 2020). Most recently, a 10-year fishing moratorium for the Yangtze River was put into effect on January 1, 2021, which affects roughly 250,000 fishers according to mainstream media (Xiaoyi & Yameng, 2021).…”

“…Tributaries that are unobstructed by dams can still be affected by main stem rivers that are dammed because of the backwater effects of inundation and disconnection of migratory fish pathways (swimways) (Worthington et al, 2022). Riverine capture fisheries, such as the Murray–Darling basin, Brazilian Amazon and the Columbia river, are minimizing further deterioration by supporting science-based management and adapting governance for a shared water body (Cooke et al, 2021).…”

“…Freshwater aquaculture has the potential to boost food production from inland waters that cannot enhance capture-based production (Cooke et al, 2016;Gephart et al, 2021)). Identifying hydrologic connectivity and flood dynamics to reduce escapement of non-native species and poor water quality spillover, particularly for pond based aquaculture (Boyd et al, 2020), may help maintain river and estuary ecosystem health while also supporting food security.…”

Turning summer into winter: nutrient dynamics, temperature, density dependence and invasive species drive bioenergetic processes and growth of a keystone coldwater fish

“…Despite the importance of freshwater ecosystems for supporting biodiversity (Balian et al 2008) and providing ecosystem services such as sustainable food production (Lynch et al 2017), they have often been ignored (Postel 2008) and are among the most altered globally (Carpenter et al 2011). This has resulted in disproportionate losses of and substantial threats to freshwater biodiversity (Dudgeon et al 2006, Reid et al 2019), and in some cases has locally reduced inland fishery yields or disrupted fishery practices (Brander 2007, Cooke et al 2021). The impacts of these environmental changes on bioenergetic processes and growth are especially important, as growth directly determines fishery yield as well as size‐dependent habitat use or diet changes (Werner and Gilliam 1984, Sánchez‐Hernández et al 2019).…”