Fisheries最新文献

Side-scan sonar (SSS) is a powerful tool that can be used to address many key questions in fisheries science. In principle, SSS uses dual transducers to transmit a narrow-beam, wide-angle acoustic signal as the survey vessel transits an area. The intensity of reflected sound is recorded to generate an image mosaic comprised of benthic substrates and targets in the water column, including organisms such as fish. Although SSS has been around for decades, recent advancements have opened new opportunities to leverage this technology to directly measure fish populations. In this paper, we review the current state of the science and identify opportunities to further refine SSS for fisheries applications.

The management and conservation of fisheries and aquatic resources are inherently applied activities. Therefore, when knowledge generated from research and monitoring, or knowledge that is held by practitioners and other actors (e.g., Indigenous elders, fishers), fails to inform those applied decisions, the persistent gap between knowledge and action is reinforced (i.e., the knowledge–action gap). In the healthcare realm, there has been immense growth in implementation science over the past decade or so with a goal of understanding and bridging the gap between knowledge and action and delivering on evidence-based decision making. Yet, within fisheries and aquatic sciences, the concept of implementation science has not received the same level of attention. We posit, therefore, that there is an urgent need to embrace implementation science to enhance fisheries and aquatic management and conservation. In this paper, we seek to describe what implementation science is and what it has to offer to the fisheries and aquatic science and management communities. For our context, we define implementation science as the scientific study of processes and approaches to promote the systematic uptake of research and monitoring findings and other evidence-based practices into routine practice and decision making to improve the effectiveness of fisheries management and aquatic conservation. We explore various frameworks for implementation science and consider them in the context of fisheries and aquatic science. Although there are barriers and challenges to putting implementation science into practice (e.g., lack of capacity for such work, lack of time to engage in reflection, lack of funding), there is also much in the way of opportunity and several examples of where such efforts are already underway. We conclude by highlighting the research needs related to implementation science in the fisheries and aquatic science realm that span methodological approaches, albeit a common theme is the need to involve practitioners (and other relevant actors) in the research. By introducing the concept and discipline of implementation science to the fisheries and aquatic science community, our hope is that we will inspire individuals and organizations to learn more about how implementation science can help deliver on the promise of evidence-based management and decision making and narrow the gap between research and practice.

Hydroelectric dams in the northeastern United States pose a challenge to the upstream spawning migrations of anadromous fishes, such as American Shad Alosa sapidissima, Alewife A. pseudoharengus, Blueback Herring A. aestivalis, Atlantic Salmon Salmo salar, and Sea Lamprey Petromyzon marinus. One response has been the construction and operation of fish lifts. A drawback of this solution is that fish lifts can be shut down. This study sought to determine how often fish lifts on major northeastern rivers (including lifts at the Cataract, Lockwood, and Milford dams in Maine; Holyoke Dam in Massachusetts; Scotland Dam in Connecticut; and Conowingo Dam in Maryland) shut down during their respective passage seasons and the causes for these shutdowns. We found that these lifts did not operate for 8–26% of their passage seasons, on average, with the mean season length lasting between 49 and 205 d. The causes for shutdowns were categorized as physical, mechanical, scheduling, other, or none given, with the primary cause varying among dams. Our results demonstrate an important weakness of fish lifts as a passage solution and, in turn, highlight the need for measures that limit disruptions to lifting where dam removal is not possible and strengthen the case for dam removal.