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The life in an aquatic medium, in a general sense, must he protected because in quantity and quality it is closely linked with the state of humans on the planet. Common disruptions are manifested in catastrophic forms like floods, drought, and other disturbances. These directly and drastically affect the health and even the lives of human beings. They also have less well-known and long-term effects in that they disturb, albeit subtly, human equilibrium and behavior. Aquatic mediums are part of the natural environment and we cannot isolate ourselves from them without fairly long-term damage because we ourselves are a part of the natural environment.
Water is not just an element; it is a medium that supports life, a productive medium closely linked with its terrestrial environment. The quality of catchment areas has an effect on the quantity and quality of water and, eventually, on the animals that live in it. This work has been entitled MANAGEMENT OF FRESHWATER FlSHERIES because it deals with a class of aquatic animals, fish, and, especially, with a human activity, fishing, which can he a means of livelihood as well as a hobby.
A source of inexpensive animal protein in southern regions, fishing is also an inexpensive pastime in northern regions and the relaxation found in fishing is as necessary for our contemporaries in relieving stress as is the food value of the fish for those who are hungry. It is, therefore, high time that we thought of managing our natural environment carefully so that there is no irreversible reduction of a popular and valuable natural resource for which we are accountable to future generations. Hence, we have not confined ourselves to aquatic mediums and fishing and found it necessary to widen the scope of this work.
In this edition we have stressed, even more than in earlier ones, the guidelines given in our first book, Aménagement piscicole des eaux intérieures (Management of Inland Fisheries), hearing in mind that those who are involved in the improvement al the aquatic medium are also those who are responsible for it, who own it, or who benefit from it and that confirmed and. practical data, expressed in appropriate terms, will be more useful and effective than a scientific discussion, howsoever enlightening it may be. In the book, the ecological context has also been stressed, which helps clarify and justify the reasons for the suggested practical solutions.
Many fishermen, biologists, technicians, and specialists have assisted in this work. Their contribution, at all levels, has added to the combined observations made during the course of forty years of experimentation in regions that vary considerably in geography and hydrography as well as in the fisheries problems encountered in them.
We wish to record our grateful thanks to ail those who have assisted us in various ways.
