Habitat rehabilitation for inland fisheries. Global review of effectiveness and guidance for rehabilitation of freshwater ecosystems.
The degradation of aquatic habitats through decades of human activities has lead to large efforts to restore and rehabilitate freshwater habitats for fisheries and aquatic resources in watersheds throughout the world. This document reviews published evaluations of freshwater habitat rehabilitation projects including studies on roads and sediment reduction, riparian and floodplain rehabilitation, placement of habitat structures in lakes and streams, addition of nutrients to increase aquatic produ ction, as well as other less common techniques. It was difficult to draw firm conclusions about many specific techniques due to the limited information provided physical habitat, biota and costs as well as the short duration and scope of most published evaluations. However, techniques such as reconnection of isolated habitats, rehabilitation of floodplains, and placement of instream structures have clearly proven effective for improving habitat and increasing local fish abundance under many cir cumstances. Techniques that restore processes such as riparian rehabilitation, sediment reduction methods (road improvements), dam removal and restoration of floods also show promise but may take years or decades to detect a change in biota. Other techniques such as bank protection, beaver removal, and bank debrushing can produce positive effects for some species but more often produce negative impacts on biota or disrupt natural processes. Our review demonstrates that three key areas lacking i n rehabilitation activities: 1) adequate assessment of historic conditions, impaired ecosystem processes, and factors limiting biotic production; 2) understanding upstream or watershed-scale factors that may influence effectiveness of reach or localized rehabilitation techniques; and 3) well designed and funded monitoring and evaluation.
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| Format: | Book (series) biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2005
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| Online Access: | https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/a0039e http://www.fao.org/3/a-a0039e.pdf |
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