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The contribution of lakes to global inland fisheries harvest
Author(s) -
Deines Andrew M,
Bunnell David B,
Rogers Mark W,
Bennion David,
Woelmer Whitney,
Sayers Michael J,
Grimm Amanda G,
Shuchman Robert A,
Raymer Zachary B,
Brooks Colin N,
MychekLonder Justin G,
Taylor William,
Beard T Douglas
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
frontiers in ecology and the environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.918
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1540-9309
pISSN - 1540-9295
DOI - 10.1002/fee.1503
Subject(s) - fishing , fishery , wetland , geography , hydropower , agriculture , ecosystem , population , recreation , environmental science , ecology , biology , demography , archaeology , sociology
Freshwater ecosystems provide numerous services for communities worldwide, including irrigation, hydropower, and municipal water; however, the services provided by inland fisheries – nourishment, employment, and recreational opportunities – are often comparatively undervalued. We provide an independent estimate of global lake harvest to improve biological and socioeconomic assessments of inland fisheries. On the basis of satellite‐derived estimates of chlorophyll concentration from 80,012 globally distributed lakes, lake‐specific fishing effort based on human population, and output from a Bayesian hierarchical model, we estimated that the global lake fishery harvest in the year 2011 was 8.4 million tons (mt). Our calculations excluded harvests from highly productive rivers, wetlands, and very small lakes; therefore, the true cumulative global fishery harvest from all freshwater sources likely exceeded 11 mt as reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ( FAO ). This putative underestimate by the FAO could diminish the perceived importance of inland fisheries and perpetuate decisions that adversely affect these fisheries and millions of people.