Fish Community Objectives: A look back and forward

Session: 12. - History of Great Lakes Fish, Fisheries & Governance: Dr. Henry Regier's Legacy

James Bence, Michigan State University, Dept. of Fisheries & Wildlife, [email protected]

Abstract

Fish Community Objectives (FCOs) specify desired characteristics for the structure of fish communities for each Great Lake and how progress toward meeting them should be measured. FCOs have been established and revised at different times across the Great Lakes, and thus reflect thinking by fishery scientists and managers at different times.  First publication of FCOs ranged from 1990 for Lake Superior to 2003 for Lake Erie.  Revised FCOs were published for Lake Superior and Lake Ontario, 13 and 18 years after initial publication, and other FCOs have been in effect for 15 to 22 years.  In some cases FCOs were in draft form for nearly a decade until published.  These time lines reflect the challenging and contentious nature of developing FCOs, and that once established FCOs have remained in place for substantial periods of time.  A number of existing FCOs are stated in terms of desired sustainable yields or populations capable of producing such yields.  Herein I critique such yield-based objectives as having serious logical and logistical difficulties and suggest alternative forms for FCOs.  Given the long-term nature of FCOs, attention to such issues during drafting could have long-term ramifications.   

1. Keyword
fish

2. Keyword
fisheries

3. Keyword
fish management