Inland Fisheries

Ecosystem services in freshwater fish production systems and aquatic ecosystems: Recognizing, demonstrating and capturing their value in food production and water management decisions

Overview of inland fisheries
30/05/2015

This report was prepared under the auspices of a UN Agency to UN Agency Contribution Agreement between the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and specifically dealt with the project, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB): Natural Resource Accounting at country-level and across specified industrial sectors. The case studies, which Part 2 is based on, were prepared by:  Columbia River case study, Cedar Morton and Duncan Knowler, Simon Fraser University, Canada  Lower Mekong Basin case study: Rattanawan (Tam) Mungkung, Ratcha Chaichana and Santi Senglertsawai, Kasetsart University, Thailand  Lake Victoria case study: Dismas Mbabazi and Oliva C. Mkumbo, Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation, Uganda and Cecile Brugere.

The goal of the case studies is to assess how, and to what extent, the supply of ecosystem services and benefits associated with inland capture fisheries, freshwater aquaculture and aquatic ecosystem management could be increased and improved in a sustainable manner. Each case study has two interlinked objectives: To assess the value of ecosystem services in a set of fish production systems and main water management practices taking into account the impacts, externalities and dependencies between agricultural/economic, environment and social systems, and To develop a holistic assessment of different production and management scenarios in the inland fisheries/aquaculture sector, taking into account the (hidden) impacts and externalities and dependencies between agricultural/economic, environment and social systems. The Columbia River in North America, the Lower Mekong Basin in Southeast Asia and Lake Victoria in Africa have been chosen as case studies (see Part 1). Table 1 provides an overview of the fish production systems, water management practices and ecosystem services considered in each of these case studies. The main ecosystem services considered in each system are: (I) food production (animal proteins and nutrients); (II) water quality; (III) biodiversity; (IV) carbon fixation and greenhouse gas emissions; (V) nutrient cycling; and (VI) income and livelihood support. Other ecosystems services may be considered if important in the context of each case study.