Rotenone in Fisheries: Are the Rewards Worth the Risks?

1. Introduction

Brian J. Finlayson

doi: https://doi.org/10.47886/9781888569339.ch1

Fisheries managers rely on a wide variety of tools including piscicides for the management and assessment of fish populations to maintain diverse and productive aquatic ecosystems and high quality recreational fisheries. As many as 30 piscicides have been used for fisheries management in the United States and Canada. Only four are currently registered for use, two lampricidies, Lamprecide® and Bayluscide® and two general piscicides, antimycin and rotenone. Rotenone is by far the most commonly used piscicide in North America today with a current average annual use of 9,474 kg (as active ingredient) (McClay 2000).

Despite the ongoing need for rotenone, its continued use has become a concern for environmental and animal rights groups, and its use has been challenged, halted, and discouraged. In response to these increased concerns, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1997 funded the American Fisheries Society’s (AFS) sponsored Rotenone Stewardship Program. The Rotenone Stewardship Program has produced a number of products designed to promote its safe and effective use and ensure its continued availability as a fish management tool. These include the Rotenone Use in Fisheries Management Administrative and Technical Guidelines Manual (Finlayson et al. 2000) and the symposium Rotenone Use in Fisheries: Are the Rewards Worth the Risk that was held at the AFS 2000 National Meeting in St. Louis, Missouri.

Nine years previously, an AFS symposium focused on the use of fishery management chemicals. The Chemical Rehabilitation Projects Symposium: Procedures and Issues was presented at the Western Division Annual Meeting in Bozeman, Montana (July 15-19, 1991) and the National Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas (September 8-12, 1991). It was clear from these earlier presentations that there was a need for guidelines for the safe and effective use of rotenone. It was anticipated that the guidelines would minimize the occurrence of situations that have caused or have threatened the prohibition of its use as a fishery management tool. Thus, the concept of the Rotenone Stewardship Program was borne. This current symposium proceedings contains eleven papers covering a wide variety of topics including stewardship and use policies, environmental safety issues and several case histories from California to New York. Several of the papers included in these proceedings were originally given in 1991 but have been revised.