Symposium Summary: Sustainable Fisheries through Cross-Sectoral Collaboration

Following the historic global inland fisheries conference organized by Michigan State University and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation earlier this year in Rome, Italy, this symposium sought to highlight key findings from the conference and address important issues that arose through conference discussions. Symposium topics covered the conference’s four themes: biological assessment, policy and governance, economic and social assessment, and drivers and synergies. A running theme of the symposium was the need for inland waters to be better represented in water resource decision making. Each of the symposium’s presentations addressed global issues currently affecting the planet’s inland fisheries, including changing climate, conflicts over power versus food, and an intricate globalized economy. Techniques were suggested to address these and related issues that are currently facing inland waters, including using satellite data to measure inland production, compiling landscape-sized data to develop large-scale images, better survey techniques to measure fish consumption patterns, and extension work to better communicate with lay audiences. Other presentations addressed the role that aquaculture is increasingly playing in a global setting, and the challenges that dams present in freshwater systems. Additional follow up from the conference includes conference proceedings and recommendations for FAO member nations.   — Betsy Riley, Michigan State University, [email protected] Read the symposium abstracts here.