Eutrophication, water quality, and fisheries: a wicked management problem with insights from a century of change in Lake Erie

James S. Sinclair, Michael E. Fraker, James M. Hood, Euan D. Reavie, Stuart A. Ludsin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Human-driven nutrient inputs into aquatic ecosystems must be managed to preserve biodiversity and to ensure that valued fishery and water quality services are not compromised by hypoxia and harmful algal blooms. Aiming for nutrient inputs that achieve an intermediate level of ecosystem productivity is expected to provide both high fish yield and good water quality. However, we argue that such an intermediate “optimum” may not exist for many aquatic ecosystems that support multiple fisheries with differing tolerances to eutrophication and that must provide multiple water quality services. We further support this argument with an empirical case study of nearly a century (1915–2011) of change in the productivity of Lake Erie and its lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis), walleye (Sander vitreus), and yellow perch (Perca flavescens) fisheries. We discuss and show how the harvest of each fishery has been historically maximized at different levels of ecosystem productivity. Additionally, we examine how anticipated management efforts to improve water quality by reducing nutrient inputs (i.e., oligotrophication) may favor certain fisheries over others, resulting in no single optimal range of nutrient inputs that achieves all valued fishery and water quality objectives. Our synthesis and case study illustrate how the need to balance multiple services in aquatic ecosystems can create a wicked management problem with inevitable trade-offs. To navigate these trade-offs, we recommend the use of ecosystem-based management approaches, which can help decision makers identify and resolve complex trade-offs by facilitating cooperative research and communication among water quality regulators, fisheries managers, and end users.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number10
JournalEcology and Society
Volume28
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2023
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the author(s). Published here under license by the Resilience Alliance.

Keywords

  • Great Lakes
  • ecosystem approach
  • ecosystem-based management
  • eutrophication
  • fisheries
  • oligotrophication
  • social-ecological system
  • socio-environmental system
  • trade-off
  • water quality

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