Postdoctoral Fellowship: History and Science of Freshwater Fisheries Management

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PROJECT SUMMARYObjectives and methodsAnders Halverson, an aquatic ecologist, and Patricia Nelson Limerick, a historian, propose to study issues concerning science, technology and freshwater fisheries during a two-year postdoctoral fellowship for Halverson at the University of Colorado. In addition to the research described above, the fellowship will also include a training component. Halverson will sit in on classes and seminars and hold formal and informal discussions with Limerick and other scholars at the University of Colorado's Center for the American West. Intellectual MeritEvery year, state agencies stock tens of millions of fish into the freshwaters of the United States for the benefit of recreational anglers. Such stocking programs, ongoing for more than 100 years, have proven enormously successful socially and economically. However, stocking and other associated techniques have also had severe consequences for native fauna and ecosystems ,especially in the American West. About 37 percent of North American freshwater fishes are currently classified as vulnerable, imperiled, or extinct by The Nature Conservancy, and introduced species were at least partially responsible for 68 percent of the extinctions through predation, competition, the spread of disease, and hybridization. Other fisheries management techniques, including the use of fish poisons and the introduction of invertebrate prey species, have also had dire consequences for native fauna. Fisheries managers, scientists and other stakeholders appear to have divided into polarized factions over these fisheries management issues, generating increasingly rancorous debate over the effects and future direction of freshwater fisheries management. While the debate is couched largely in terms of contemporary science and social science, the roots of the conflict stretch deep into the past. Indeed, throughout its history, sport fishing has had a profound influence on freshwater ecosystems in ways that have often been controversial as well as beneficial and detrimental to the native inhabitants. This study is both timely and relevant. Although every bit as consequential, freshwater fisheries management has received little attention compared to other issues like the crises in marine and anadromous fisheries. An in-depth analysis of the current and historical roots of the controversy will also illuminate broader issues about the role of science and technology in society.Broader Impacts The proposed research will have broader impacts. Halverson, a former journalist, proposes to write a book that would be accessible and of interest to the general public. The potential audience is large; nationwide about one in seven adults spend some of their leisure time fishing. In addition, by pulling together information about history, science and politics into one body of work, the proposed research would further debate and thereby improve the management of the nation's freshwaters.