Stocking Conservation Issues: Integrative Methods In Recreational Fisheries; Science and Policy of Fish Propagation, Part 2

Stocking constitutes the dominant management tool for maintaining or enhancing inland fisheries. However, the faith in stocking programs is diminishing for at least two reasons. First, conservation concerns have been raised that fish stocking may pose a threat to wild fish populations. Secondly, new genetic tools have revealed that the fitness of stocked fish in the wild may be low, and little additive effects are to be expected in some situations. The new state of knowledge promotes a more cautious view on future stocking programs. Although many of the aspects surrounding development of sustainable stocking practices tackle human dimensions issues (e.g., education of stakeholders about alternatives to stocking) and the decision sciences (e.g., how to decide about stocking in the face of biological risks), much of the underlying science on fish stocking management has been fisheries biological in orientation characterized by little integration across disciplines. In this symposium we want to bring together key experts in the area of fish stocking science from a wide range of academic disciplines and the field of environmental planning. The objective is to reflect on the history and future of fish stocking and discuss prospects in the context of the ecosystem approach to fisheries management. The value of the symposium to AFS members and others is to benefit from the critical examination of the current state of affairs, with a view to understand the social causes and the various biological and economic consequences of prototypical stocking programs and how to deal with uncertainty and risk (e.g., spread of diseases, hybridisation) in development of sustainable stocking policies. The symposium should form a catalyst towards an integrative analysis of future stocking programs in fisheries science that builds on the many strengths of stocking, while avoiding the most common pitfalls with potentially irreversible consequences for aquatic biodiversity.