Fish sustainability means going beyond the pond -- and beyond water

A fish out of water isn’t such a wrong idea, at least not scientifically.

Bill Taylor notes that scientifically, to understand fish and their habitats means venturing onto land, into the atmosphere as well as into the realms of humans who raise and eat them. Fish, the university distinguished professor of global fisheries says, are the ultimate integrators.

Changes in landscape in turn change water quality in river systems. Rain snags pollution from the atmosphere and drops it in fish habitats. Dammed river systems can wreak enormous change upon banks, levees and fish production. Fish end up on plates not only in their own form, but as a diet for beef and chicken, they end up as dinner through many paths.

“Fish,” Taylor said, “are symbolic of our way of living harmoniously in the world.”

At the Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, this “wet lab” group looks at how fish habitat and fish production are directly linked to human systems locally and globally. From the Great Lakes to the Nile River, they’re studying global change issues such as climate, evaluation of governance, policies on the impact of fish community dynamics and sustainability.