Salmonid stocking in five North Atlantic jurisdictions: Identifying drivers and barriers to policy change

• Published in: Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems
• Main Authors: Cucherousset, Julien, Fleming, Ian A., Wolter, Christian, Höjesjö, Johan, Buoro, Mathieu, Santoul, Frederic, Johnsson, Jörgen I., Hindar, Kjetil, Arlinghaus, Robert
• Other Authors: Evolution et Diversité Biologique (EDB), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, Department of Ocean Sciences, Memorial University of Newfoundland St. John's, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Development of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg (GU), Laboratoire Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Environnement (ECOLAB), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Institut Ecologie et Environnement (INEE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), Division of Integrative Fisheries Management, Humbolt University, This work received funding from the project SalmoINVADE, a 2014– 2016 BiodivERsA project (through the Swedish Research Council Formas, grant number 226‐2013‐1875; the French National Research Agency – ANR, grant number 13‐EDIB‐0002; the German Research Foundation – DFG, grant number AR 712/4‐1; and the Research Council of Norway – RCN, grant number 235949) and from the IMPRESS project, a European Union Horizon 2020 RIA project under the Marie Skłodowska‐Curie grant, agreement 642893. Julien Cucherousset and Mathieu Bureau Buoro received additional funding from the Region Midi‐Pyrenees in the EDB lab, part of the Laboratoire d'Excellence (LABEX), entitled TULIP (ANR‐10‐LABX‐41). Ian A. Fleming received funding from a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, European Project: 642893,H2020,H2020-MSCA-ITN-2014,IMPRESS(2015)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2018
• Subjects: advocacy coalition; alien species; environmental policy; governance; institutions; invasive species; oncorhynchus; punctuated equilibrium; salmo; salvelinus; north atlantic; nature conservation; salmonides; politique environnementale; atlantique nord; conservation; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; Canada; Norway; Atlantic salmon; North Atlantic; Salmo salar
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02019967; https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.2984

1. New knowledge challenges long‐established practices of fish stocking and transfer because of increasing scientific consensus that the release of cultivated fish can pose risks to biodiversity; however, stocking can also improve fisheries, creating difficult decision trade‐offs regarding its use.2. Accordingly, controversy persists about fish stocking and transfer. No studies, however, have embraced a multinational perspective to understand the important governance dimensions of the success and failure of salmonid stocking and transfer policies.3. The present study has analysed the historical development and contemporary governance of the stocking and transfer of native and non‐native salmonids of the genera Salmo, Salvelinus, and Oncorhynchus in five legislative units around the North Atlantic Ocean: the Atlantic Provinces of Canada, France, Germany, Norway, and Sweden. The study is based on the analyses of published and unpublished literature, and a survey of experts.4. Current salmonid stocking policies and practices varied significantly among jurisdictions; the degree of policy change varied, from radical and rapid changes de jure and de facto in Atlantic Canada and Norway to incremental mostly de jure changes in France and Germany.5. Rapid policy change in Atlantic Canada, Norway, and partly in Sweden can be explained by the socio‐political importance of salmonid fisheries, stocking regulations based on policy objectives to conserve wild Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), well‐documented examples of the harmful consequences of transfers of non‐native species, and well‐developed vertical governance linkages. The policy changes resemble that of the ‘punctuated equilibrium policy framework’.6. By contrast, France and Germany place less socio‐political emphasis on salmonids, have stocking regulations less directed at wild salmonids, more local‐level decision making, more species‐rich fish communities, and little evidence of adverse ecological impacts of the transfer and stocking of salmonids. This has led to ...