Proposed Best Modeling Practices for Fish Conservation and Ecosystem Restoration

Large-scale aquatic ecosystem restoration is increasing and is often controversial because of the economic costs involved, with the focus of the controversies gravitating to the modeling of fish responses.  Often, a driving force of the restoration is fish conservation issues. We present a scheme for best practices in selecting, implementing, interpreting, and reporting of fish modeling designed to assess the effects of restoration actions on fish populations and aquatic food webs.  Our scheme is a 31-step process, many of which are commonly done but not all together and not sufficiently documented. We also describe key concepts (e.g., life history theory, density-dependence, scaling) that need to be considered in parallel to these best practice steps to ensure effective modeling. We illustrate several key steps, and their associated concepts, using case studies of Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River, the wetlands of coastal Louisiana, and the Everglades. Use of our proposed scheme will require investment of additional time and effort (and dollars) to be done effectively.   We argue that such an investment is well worth it and will more than pay back in the long run in effective and efficient restoration actions and likely avoided controversies and legal proceedings.