Connecting People and Rivers for Enhanced Fisheries Sustainability in Puerto Rico

The growing human population size and associated consumption pose great threats to the integrity and sustainability of the world’s aquatic ecosystems and fisheries resources. These threats include the more localized effects of overfishing and land and waterscape changes as well as the more regional and global impacts of climate change. We propose to evaluate the impact of landscape changes on select river systems of Puerto Rico, an urban island considered one of the most populated places in the world, in an effort to develop awareness programs that engage watershed residents in behavioral changes that promote healthier, more diverse ecosystem and human communities. With the historical changes of land use, from agricultural to industries and finally urbanization, came a shift in land use approaches that most likely shaped the local people’s perspectives towards their land and embedded water resources. Our study addresses the relationship between stewardship knowledge and behavior of local communities to the integrity of native fish habitats and freshwater resources in selected coastal watersheds in Puerto Rico. We predict communities with a sense of ownership will help in addressing the sustainability of freshwater resources and native fish habitats.