Fish Conservation and
Management
CONS 486
Managing biotic communities
Gardening, poisoning, and shocking –what would PETA think?
Chapter 10 Ross
Managing biotic communities
Topics
?Organism additions
?Organism control/elimination
Major theme: Linking science to conservation & management
?????PhysiologyBehaviourPopulation ecologyEcosystem ecologyHabitat data (limnology, oceanography)?Life history?Fisheries exploitation data?Applied life history data?Human dimensions: socio-economic dataBasic scienceApplied science?Protecting populations & habitats?Restoring populations & habitatsConservationManagement?Harvest regulations?Managing fisheries & habitatsManaging biotic communities: Background
?Three common manipulation types:
1.Additionof animals to provide a forage base for fish
populations supporting fisheries2.3.
Eliminationof “undesirable” fish
Reduction of dense weed beds (discussed this last lecture)
Managing biotic communities: Addition of animals
Forage Introductions?To be successful, forage introductions must:1.Provide an abundant food supply2.Not experience wide fluctuations in abundance3.Effectively transfer primary production to higher trophic levels4.Be vulnerable to predation based on their size, behaviour, habitat
preferences5.Be innocuous (no negative community effects)
?Very few ever meet these criteria –must consider when evaluating introductions