As global attention has become increasingly focused on the depletion of many marine fisheries, freshwater fisheries around the world are facing their own challenges. Inland fisheries are critical food resource, especially in much of the developing world, yet agricultural, water management, and investment policies are often at odds with maintaining their long-term sustainability. A lack of reliable data and a local, rather than global approach, to inland fisheries issues has hampered international monitoring and conservation programs.

The conference is for the first time addressing the challenges and opportunities for freshwater fisheries on a global scale and will include commercial, subsistence, aquaculture, and recreational fisheries, as well as the broad context of ecosystem services provided by inland aquatic systems.

The conference will also communicate the value of inland fisheries to policy makers and the public; review assessment and valuation strategies; recommend policy commitments; provide policy makers with the means to better integrate inland fisheries into development planning processes; identify critical pathways in water resource allocation, climate change adaptation, food security and nutrition, and biodiversity conservation; develop recommendations for measurable global targets; and synthesize the conference contributions and deliberations into a white paper.

This conference, co-organized with the Michigan State University, will be held at FAO Hqs, Rome, Italy, 26–28 January 2015.