1 / 19

What is Fisheries Science?

What is Fisheries Science?. Eric Hallerman, Head, Dept. of Fisheries & Wildlife Sciences. What is Fisheries Science?. The study of fish, their habitat, humans exploiting them, and all their interactions. Goal – to sustain fisheries resources for future generations.

carl
Download Presentation

What is Fisheries Science?

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. What is Fisheries Science? Eric Hallerman, Head, Dept. of Fisheries & Wildlife Sciences

  2. What is Fisheries Science? The study of fish, their habitat, humans exploiting them, and all their interactions Goal – to sustain fisheries resources for future generations

  3. Effect of large woody debris Freshwater fisheries management • Coldwater fisheries management • Focus on maintaining native brook trout Evaluation of streamside buffer zones • Landscape-scale effects of temperature Evaluation of the effects of stream crossings

  4. Freshwater fisheries management River fisheries management • Focus on maintaining native fishes, game and non-game • Shenandoah River: Habitat modeling to inform water use decisions in ShenandoahBasin • New River: Marker-assisted restoration of the native walleye stock • Smith River:New operating regimes for Philpott Dam recommended based on 5 years of population and habitat analyses

  5. Freshwater fisheries management • Reservoir fisheries management • Focus on sport fisheries • Reproductive failure of bass in Virginia’s trophy lakes: • Assessing and modeling individual growth and condition • Protected spawning areas • Management of striped bass in Smith Mountain Lake

  6. Freshwater fisheries management Lakes and rivers fisheries management (international) Mexico – invasive species (aquatic vegetation) Cuba – tourism development (largemouth bass) Nicaragua – invasive species (tilapia) * China – hydropower impacts on fisheries, overfishing problems (poverty)

  7. Management of non-game species • Landscape-scale models of fish distribution and abundance • Habitat associations and causes of rarity in fishes • Use of fish communities to assess water quality • Development of risk-assessment tools for conservation planning

  8. Management of non-game species • ~300 freshwater mussel species in North America • 35 sp. considered extinct • ~70% listed as threatened or endangered • Tennessee River system a biodiversity hotspot… • What can we do to conserve freshwater mussels? • Habitat protection, incl. host fishes, population transfer and augmentation

  9. Forest Agriculture Urban Watershed management • Move towards ecosystem, as opposed to single-species management • Fish in the Shenandoah River are dying in large numbers and we don't know why.April-July 2005: 80% of small-mouth bass and redbreast sunfish died in >100 miles of South Fork Shenandoah River in Virginia.April-July 2006: reports of dead fish continue; hundreds of two of the river's three sucker species are also dying. • Multiple causes, under assessment…

  10. Fish biology • Disciplines: Physiology, genetics, nutrition toxicology, … • Focus on aquatic population genetics: • Which of our brook trout populations are native? • Restoration of native New River walleye • What is the population structure of horseshoe crabs, and how should that affect management? • Which freshwater mussel populations can be used to augment others?

  11. Marine fisheries management • Population dynamics and stock assessment for fishery resources • Fisheries management • design of management programs • Adaptive management • Develop new models and new modeling approaches in fisheries • Groupers, hammerhead sharks, horseshoe crabs • Single-species management, move towards ecosystem management

  12. Human dimensions of fisheries management • How best to involve the public in setting of management policy? • Succession planning for the fisheries and wildlife profession • Management effectiveness of state fish and wildlife agencies • Evaluation of outreach efforts • Continuing education—leadership development, public involvement

  13. Aquaculture • Marine fisheries declining • Aquaculture growing What are the major species produced globally? What are the major species produced in the United States?

  14. Production of food fishes • Classical production systems: • Channel catfish in ponds • Rainbow trout in raceways

  15. Production of food fishes • Recirculating aquaculture systems • Physiology, nutrition, genetics • Cobia, shrimp, flounder, tilapia

  16. Conservation aquaculture Freshwater mussels for out-planting

  17. Is this the kind of work you would enjoy?

  18. What do students of fisheries science study? • Principles of Fisheries and Wildlife Management • Field Techniques • Ichthyology • Fish Ecology • Aquaculture • Fisheries Management • Undergraduate Research or Internship Experience

  19. Where do our graduates go? • Graduate school • State fisheries management agencies, e.g., VDGIF • Federal fisheries management agencies: e.g., USFWS, NMFS, FERC • Consulting firms • Aquaculture firms

More Related