Assessment of Inland Fish Populations and Fisheries: The Foundation for Sustainable Management

Biological and production assessments are essential for science-based sustainable fisheries management and can further be used to demonstrate the full value (economic and otherwise) of inland fisheries resources. Inland fisheries pose challenges and opportunities for biological assessments that differ from those encountered in marine environment due to the sheer number and diversity of fisheries, high levels of ecological and environmental variation, and lack of institutional capacity and financial and human resources for assessment. In addition, anthropogenic impacts other than fishing, and the frequent use of active enhancement and restoration measures such as stocking affect stock dynamics. To inform fisheries management, there is a need to identify and validate a variety of biological assessment tools (fishery-dependent and -independent) that are flexible, robust and that can be operationalised at the appropriate scale, but importantly be integrated with management. This paper identifies challenges in assessment, focussing on solutions that are practical, scalable and transferrable (including through time and between jurisdictions using standardized approaches). A path forward is suggested in which biological assessment generates some of the critical information needed by fisheries managers to make effective decisions that benefit the resource and stakeholders.