Sustainability and Management of Inland Fisheries

Inland fisheries provide essential sources of nutrition, livelihoods and economic activity for hundreds of millions worldwide. Sustainability in these systems depends on balancing harvest pressure with the productive capacity of freshwater ecosystems, which are subject to hydrological variability, habitat modification and climate change. Management approaches range from community-based co-management to centralised quota systems, underpinned by stock assessment, ecosystem service valuation and adaptive planning. Conservation of freshwater biodiversity, maintenance of floodplain connectivity and regulation of fishing effort are critical to preserving yields and ecological integrity. Emerging strategies integrate ecological monitoring with socioeconomic considerations, recognising the role of small-scale and subsistence fishers, the importance of functional diversity and the need for governance frameworks that align resource use with long-term ecosystem health. Global research highlights the interplay between species richness and yield stability, and emphasises the urgency of mitigating pressures from hydropower development, overfishing and land-use change.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have quantified the role of subsistence fishing as a nutritional safety net, showing that inland catches contribute essential micronutrients to vulnerable populations and support tens of millions of livelihoods. Analysis of an extensive time series from one of the world’s largest freshwater fisheries has revealed shifts towards smaller, lower-trophic-level species under indiscriminate harvesting, masking declines in larger-bodied taxa by compensatory increases in total biomass. Findings underscore the need for size-selective regulations and community engagement to prevent ecosystem degradation and preserve catch composition. These insights inform adaptive management frameworks that seek to balance nutritional security with biodiversity conservation.

Sustainability and Management of Inland Fisheries publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in sustainability and management of inland fisheries across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Subsistence fishing: Harvesting fish primarily for household consumption and nutritional security rather than for sale.

Trophic level: The position of a species within a food web based on its feeding relationships.

Species richness: The number of different species present in a given ecosystem and an indicator of biodiversity.

Recruitment overfishing: A situation where excessive fishing reduces the number of juveniles entering the breeding population, threatening stock replenishment.

Hydrological regime: The pattern of water flow and flooding dynamics that influence habitat conditions in freshwater systems.

References

1. Fishing for subsistence constitutes a livelihood safety net for populations dependent on aquatic foods around the world. Nature Food (2023).
2. Evidence of indiscriminate fishing effects in one of the world’s largest inland fisheries. Scientific Reports (2018).
3. Global evidence of positive impacts of freshwater biodiversity on fishery yields. Global Ecology and Biogeography (2016).
4. Using local ecological knowledge to monitor threatened Mekong megafauna in Lao PDR. PLOS ONE (2017).
5. Factors Driving Long Term Declines in Inland Fishery Yields in the Mekong Delta. Water (2021).