The conservation of freshwater fishes in the British isles

This paper briefly reviews the status and distribution of populations of freshwater fishes in the British Isles and their worth as a resource. The total value of freshwater fishes to the community is far greater than is normally appreciated and includes, in addition to the economic sport and commercial fisheries, amenity, recreational, educational, and scientific, aspects as well as a potentially useful store of genetic material for the future. The main human pressures on existing fish stocks are discussed under the headings of fisheries, pollution, and land-used. The principal trends in the British Isles are away from natural and stable mixed fish populations towards artificially maintained, unstable stocks of a few species of sporting or commercial value. In particular the rarer, more sensitive, fish stocks with poor powers of distribution are being eradicated and replaced by commoner, more robust forms with greater powers of distribution. The rarer species and genetic strains can only survive if constructive conservation projects are initiated expeditiously at a variety of levels.