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Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2021

Ecosystem-based fisheries management is attainable, affordable, and should be viewed as a long-term commitment: Experiences from Lake Vattern, Sweden

Bryhn, Andreas C.; Grande, Anna; Setzer, Malin; Johansson, Karl-Magnus; Bergstrom, Lena

Abstract

Lake Vattern is Sweden's second largest lake and faces multiple environmental challenges such as climate change, pollutants and invasive alien species. Since its foundation in 1957, the Lake Vattern Society of Water Conservation (LVSWC) has been a local actor aiming to manage a broad range of environmental issues concerning the lake and its catchment. Stakeholders can be members of LVSWC, which also organises a fisheries co-management group mainly dealing with fisheries issues. Ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) is a widely desired framework shaped to focus on ecosystems, involve stakeholders, and address environmental issues in an adaptive, integrated and holistic manner while also including societal aspects. We have investigated how the management of Lake Vattern relates to 15 central principles for EBFM. The study found that LVSWC and the fisheries co-management group work along and towards the EBFM principles in a locally adapted way. Several environmental improvements have been observed concurrently with LVSWC activity, such as increased water clarity, and a strengthened stock of the Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus). Long-term commitment by European, national and regional authorities was seen as essential to maintain and improve EBFM functions for Lake Vattern, to ensure continuity in the work, rather than having to depend on short projects. Becasue literature examples of EBFM in lakes are scarce worldwide, this study provides a unique example of the pursuit of EBFM in lake ecosystem management. (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of International Association for Great Lakes Research. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

Keywords

Integrated management; Ecosystem; Fisheries; Co-management

Published in

Journal of Great Lakes Research
2021, Volume: 47, number: 5, pages: 1437-1445
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD

      SLU Authors

    • Associated SLU-program

      Lakes and watercourses

      Sustainable Development Goals

      SDG6 Clean water and sanitation
      SDG14 Life below water
      SDG12 Responsible consumption and production

      UKÄ Subject classification

      Fish and Wildlife Management
      Fish and Aquacultural Science

      Publication identifier

      DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2021.08.012

      Permanent link to this page (URI)

      https://res.slu.se/id/publ/114038