Tracking Fisheries Through Time: The American Fisheries Society as a Historical Lens

Abstract

The historical context of current environmental conditions offers vital guidance to North American fisheries professionals as they strive to develop effective management plans and policies. Through this retrospective we highlight the remarkable historic fisheries resources and reasons for establishing public fisheries agencies and the American Fisheries Society (AFS). Through a review of primary historical documents and literature for North America, this paper identifies factors contributing to the founding of AFS and public fish commissions; shows how selected resource issues evolved; and documents how and why selected fisheries and aquatic habitat policies changed in response to those issues. Overexploitation, landscape‐scale habitat alterations, mining, and dams were the causative agents for emergence of fisheries agencies and AFS, and these factors remain relevant today. Beginning in the 1960s, after 100 years of policy inaction, North Americans grew tired of degraded waters and fisheries and forced policy changes that have directly and indirectly affected the fisheries we manage today. The historical events and resulting corrective legislation are taken for granted by those unaware that AFS has actively participated in developing policies to address these environmental harms. Further, AFS continues to play a vital role in identifying key issues, providing conduits for information to cope with impairments, and advocating for policies to conserve intact habitats and improve degraded systems. The struggles documented in this paper offer crucial lessons as we continue to be challenged by legacy resource issues and face emerging environmental stressors, such as climate change, as well as regression in long‐standing environmental protection policies.

Catfish 2020, A Clear Vision of the Future

“…The need for understanding catfish ecology to aid in their conservation and management outside of production systems continues to grow, and fisheries agencies continue to address the challenges of overexploitation, habitat alterations, and dam construction and operation, which remain relevant today (Whelan et al. 2020). The need for a better understanding of how to manage and conserve catfishes is reflected in the shift in publication emphasis.…”

Sustaining Tribal Fisheries: U.S. Economic Relief Policies during COVID-19

“…The colonization of Turtle Island (North America) led to the rapid degradation of the land and waters and ultimately aquatic species [14,26]. As U.S. industrialization and colonization continued through the 19th and 20th centuries, settlers recognized the need for the establishment of public management agencies to protect existing species and prevent further degradation [14]. States established their own regulatory entities with the first state-level fish commission formed in 1856 in Massachusetts [14].…”

“…As U.S. industrialization and colonization continued through the 19th and 20th centuries, settlers recognized the need for the establishment of public management agencies to protect existing species and prevent further degradation [14]. States established their own regulatory entities with the first state-level fish commission formed in 1856 in Massachusetts [14]. Subsequent states followed suit, and by 1932, there were state commissions in all 48 states with Alaska's and Hawaii's established upon statehood in 1949 and 1959, respectively [14,27].…”

“…Indigenous Peoples' rights to manage and develop their own fisheries and to maintain their subsistence and ceremonial fishing activities are protected under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) Articles 5 and 20 [10]. Tribal Nations in what is currently known as the United States have managed extensive fisheries for thousands of years [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. The purpose of this study is to examine the ways individual economic relief spending plans of U.S. states granted a funding allocation under Sec.…”

From Johnny Fish‐Seed to Hatchery‐Bashing to Shaping the Shoal of Aquaculture Stakeholders

“…In early demonstrations like these, fish culturists showed what might be possible with the use of artificially propagated fish. It was a time when the public was angered and frustrated by diminishing fisheries resources and access, further impaired by landscape‐scale habitat degradation and alteration, overharvest, and wanton resource waste (Whelan et al 2020). While attempts were made by early fisheries professionals to address these issues, the political resolve needed to deal with habitat issues and overharvest was lacking.…”