Fishes in a changing world: learning from the past to promote sustainability of fish populations.

Populations of fishes provide valuable services for billions of people, but face diverse and interacting threats that jeopardize their sustainability. Human population growth and intensifying resource use for food, water, energy and goods are compromising fish populations through a variety of mechanisms, including overfishing, habitat degradation and declines in water quality. The important challenges raised by these issues have been recognized and have led to considerable advances over past decades in managing and mitigating threats to fishes worldwide. In this review, we identify the major threats faced by fish populations alongside recent advances that are helping to address these issues. There are very significant efforts worldwide directed towards ensuring a sustainable future for the world's fishes and fisheries and those who rely on them. Although considerable challenges remain, by drawing attention to successful mitigation of threats to fish and fisheries we hope to provide the encouragement and direction that will allow these challenges to be overcome in the future.

Individually assessed boldness predicts Perca fluviatilis behaviour in shoals, but is not associated with the capture order or angling method.

Selectivity of recreational angling on fish behaviour was studied by examining whether capture order or lure type (natural v. artificial bait) in ice-fishing could explain behavioural variation among perch Perca fluviatilis individuals. It was also tested if individually assessed personality predicts fish behaviour in groups, in the presence of natural predators. Perca fluviatilis showed individually repeatable behaviour both in individual and in group tests. Capture order, capture method, condition factor or past growth rate did not explain variation in individual behaviour. Individually determined boldness as well as fish size, however, were positively associated with first entrance to the predator zone (i.e. initial risk taking) in group behaviour tests. Individually determined boldness also explained long-term activity and total time spent in the vicinity of predators in the group. These findings suggest that individual and laboratory-based boldness tests predict boldness of P. fluviatilis in also ecologically relevant conditions, i.e. in shoals and in the presence of natural predators. The present results, however, also indicate that the above-mentioned two angling methods may not be selective for certain behavioural types in comparison to each other.

Differing virulence of Aphanomyces astaci isolates and elevated resistance of noble crayfish Astacus astacus against crayfish plague.

Crayfish plague epidemics (caused by Aphanomyces astaci) have been causing population collapses among native European crayfish stocks since the late 1800s. Recent indirect and direct evidence has shown that its virulence has been variable, with native European crayfish even acting as carriers. We tested the differences in A. astaci virulence under experimental conditions using both PsI- and As-genotypes with 3 Finnish noble crayfish Astacus astacus populations. We infected crayfish with adjusted quantities of A. astaci zoospores and monitored the symptoms and mortality of the crayfish. The PsI-genotype isolate caused rapid and total mortality among the tested populations, while the As-genotype isolates expressed more variable virulence. In some cases, mortality among the As-genotype-infected crayfish did not exceed the mortality level of the control group. All of the tested noble crayfish stocks showed lower mortality towards the As-genotype of A. astaci isolated from the River Kemijoki epidemic. We conclude that there are clear differences in virulence between different A. astaci genotypes and also differences in virulence within As-genotypes. Furthermore, we observed clear signs of increased resistance in different populations of noble crayfish towards some of the tested strains belonging to the As-genotype of A. astaci.

Divergent trends in life-history traits between Atlantic salmon Salmo salar of wild and hatchery origin in the Baltic Sea.

Four Atlantic salmon Salmo salar stocks in the Baltic Sea, varying in their breeding history, were studied for changes in life-history traits over the years 1972-1995. Total length (L(T)) at age of captured (L(TC)) fish had increased throughout the study period, partly due to increased temperature and increased L(T) at release, (L(TR)) but also due to remaining cohort effects that could represent unaccounted environmental or genetic change. Simultaneously, maturation probabilities controlled for water temperature, L(TC) and L(TR) had increased in all stocks. The least change was observed in the River Tornionjoki S. salar that was subject only to supportive stockings originating from wild parents. These results suggest a long-term divergence between semi-natural and broodstock-based S. salar stocks. Increased L(T) at age explained advanced maturation only marginally, and it remains an open question to what extent the generally increased probabilities to mature at early age reflected underlying genetic changes.

Factors affecting between-lake variation in the occurrence of epidermal papillomatosis in roach, Rutilus rutilus (L.).

The theory of island biogeography predicts that the probability of a species occupying an island depends on a dynamic equilibrium between extinction and colonization. Epidermal papillomatosis is a disease manifesting as skin tumours on fish. We studied the factors affecting the occurrence of the disease in roach, Rutilus rutilus (L.), in 34 lakes. The results of discrimination analysis suggest that maximum depth, percentage of the drainage area of the lake covered by lakes in the vicinity and altitude best identified diseased lakes. Comparison of diseased and non-diseased lakes revealed that lake area could also be regarded as a variable contributing to the occurrence of the disease. The sampling date, proportion of males and mean length of fish did not discriminate between the lakes. The probability of the disease occurring was highest in large, deep, low-altitude lakes which had a high percentage of lakes in their vicinity. Thus, the results indicate that the colonization and extinction processes probably contribute to the occurrence of papillomatosis in roach, as predicted by the theory. Furthermore, the large natural variation in the occurrence of the disease could mask possible environmental effects and between-lake comparisons should be interpreted with caution when using the fish-papillomatosis system as an indicator of environmental stress.

Association between environmental stress and epidermal papillomatosis of roach Rutilus rutilus.

We studied the association between environmental stress and epidermal papillomatosis of roach Rutilus rutilus L. in Finnish waters using a 'matched pairs' design. Populations impacted by industrial and/or sewage effluents were compared to reference populations from pristine sites. We examined both the prevalence (proportion of diseased fish) and intensity (number of scales covered by tumors) of the disease. Results of Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMM) indicated that the risk of papillomatosis was 7.5 times higher in males than females, and increased 1.3 times for every 10 mm increment in fish length. We controlled for the possible effects of fish size, sex and temporal variation through sampling procedures and statistical analyses. Mean prevalence of epidermal papillomatosis was 16.6 and 5.8% in impact and reference populations, respectively (10 population pairs; nfish = 1714). Results of GLMM suggested that the risk of being diseased was 2.7 times higher in the impact than reference populations. Thus, the prevalence of epidermal papillomatosis in roach can be used as an indicator of environmental stress. Results of Linear Mixed Models indicated no difference in the intensity of the disease between impact and reference populations (5 population pairs; nfish = 73; mean+/-SE 10.7+/-1.8 and 11.7+/- 2.9 scales, respectively), although prevalence was higher in impact populations in those 5 population pairs. The possible relationship between environmental stress and intensity of epidermal papillomatosis in natural roach populations remains to be demonstrated.

Factors affecting the intensity of epidermal papillomatosis in populations of roach, Rutilus rutilus (L.), estimated as scale coverage.

Studies of epidermal papillomatosis in fish populations have only rarely focused on the intensity of the disease, i.e. the number and size of papillomas. Furthermore, the methods used to evaluate the intensity of papillomatosis have not been standardized. We tested the reliability of a method based on counting of scales covered by papilloma tumours in roach, Rutilus rutilus (L). In addition, we studied the frequency distributions of the number of scales covered by papillomas within populations, evaluated the correlation between the prevalence and mean intensity of the disease among populations and examined the intensity of papillomatosis in roach with respect to sex and size of fish. Reliability of the scale coverage method was high. Therefore, the method could offer an effective way to determine the intensity of papillomatosis in fish species with large scales. The frequency distribution of the scale coverage of papillomas was highly aggregated within all populations studied. The mean intensity of papillomatosis increased with the size of the fish and was higher in males than in females. However, there was no correlation between the mean intensity and prevalence of the disease among the 19 roach populations studied.