Photo Credit: Jeffery Johnson
The role of law enforcement in the multi-jurisdictional management of Great Lakes fisheries
Molly J. Good, William W. Taylor, Edmund McGarrell, Norm Graham, and Adam Zwickle
Abstract:
Fisheries and aquatic ecosystem resources have ecological, social, economic, and cultural value, and they provide a multitude of ecosystem service benefits for people. Due to their high value, ensuring the sustainability of these resources is vitally important. As ecological (e.g., rising sea levels and erosion) and anthropogenic (e.g., climate change) issues increase in scale and scope, they threaten the resilience of these resources to withstand times of great, often damaging and destructive, changes. Good governance and holistic management of fisheries and aquatic ecosystem resource use can only do so much to guarantee these resources remain available, and plentiful, for society’s future use and enjoyment. Additionally, effective regulation of fishing activities and behaviors is critical to adequately protect, enhance, and conserve these resources. However, the role of regulatory entities in, and effectiveness of their approaches toward, identifying crime, obtaining voluntary compliance, and deterring unlawful activities and behaviors in a fisheries and aquatic ecosystem context is poorly understood, overlooked, and undervalued. Using the Laurentian Great Lakes as a case study, the main objectives of this dissertation were to:
- Review the roles of federal, non-federal, and binational natural resource management and law enforcement entities involved in the governance, management, and regulation of Great Lakes fisheries;
- Investigate the key environmental and anthropogenic issues posing threats to, and opportunities for fisheries law enforcement in the Great Lakes basin;
- Examine the effectiveness of a joint (i.e., multi-agency) approach to fisheries law enforcement, perceived by members of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission’s Law Enforcement Committee in addressing these threats;
- Borrowing from traditional criminological theory, survey fisheries law enforcement officers representing multiple government entities and jurisdictional authorities to document—for the first time—their perceptions of their roles, duties, and responsibilities; fish crimes and impacts; voluntary compliance and consequences for violators; general coordination; and individual and organizational effectiveness; and,
- Raise the profile of law enforcement as a critical in the sustainability of Great Lakes fisheries and aquatic ecosystem resources.
In the Great Lakes, uncertainty regarding the potential impacts of looming threats on fish and their habitats should influence law enforcement entities to consider ways to better coordinate across entities and jurisdictional authorities, and be more proactive (i.e., versus reactive) in their efforts—even with limited resources related to staff, time, and funding. While the Great Lakes Fishery Commission’s Law Enforcement Committee is perceived by fisheries law enforcement officers as a unique approach to bring the right people together and share information across borders, Committee members identified ways in which they could improve the Committee’s overall effectiveness, such as taking more law enforcement action. They also identified key issues associated with the establishment, and potential introduction of, aquatic invasive species as the primary ecological threat facing Great Lakes fish and their habitats right now.
Surveying fisheries law enforcement officers showed that those affiliated with natural resource management entities value their role and proudly fulfill their duties and responsibilities with the goal of protecting, enhancing, and conserving fisheries and aquatic ecosystem resources. Through the survey, the officers also offered a firsthand account of the variety of illegal fishing activities and behaviors, and to what extent they are negatively impacting the environment. Fisheries law enforcement officers cited overharvesting in commercial fisheries (i.e., associated with federal, state, and especially tribal fisheries), as the most damaging or destructive illegal fishing activity occurring today in the Great Lakes.
While the majority of those surveyed are satisfied in their current positions and believe themselves, and the entities with which they affiliate, to be effective in carrying out their duties and responsibilities, they also recognized ways (i.e., dedicating more time to fisheries versus non-fisheries law enforcement; clarifying or simplifying laws, statutes, rules, and regulations; improving recruitment and retention) in which to improve both individual and organizational effectiveness.
Ph.D. Dissertation, Michigan State University
Utilization of a spatial decision-support tool for the restoration of Chinook salmon in the Columbia River
Molly J. Good, Terrie Klinger, and Charles "Si" Simenstad
Abstract: Managers, policy-makers, and practitioners often utilize spatially-explicit decision-support tools for assistance and guidance in managing highly dynamic and spatially diverse environmental systems. Here I explore the use of the Landscape Planning Framework as an example of a decision-support tool that supports a systematic, landscape-based approach to fish habitat management in the Columbia River estuary. I identified the importance of landscape features or habitat attributes to the growth and survival of ocean-type, juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and ranked them each on a scale from 1 (greatest importance) to 12 (least importance). I used these rankings to test the relative function of aquatic channel landscape features in identifying areas for potential restoration to benefit salmon stocks that rear in the estuary. In a series of five spatial trials I estimated the cumulative contribution of potential salmon habitat restoration areas by summing different combinations of rankings and grouping the ranking totals in equal-interval low (lowest potential restoration function), medium, and high (highest potential restoration function) categories. I calculated the abundance, length, area, and edge density of equal-interval categories, analyzed in the form of polygon layers, for purposes of comparison. Regardless of the combination of rankings and grouping totals, the equal-interval high category returned the lowest metric values. My results indicate that the set of sites characterized as areas of high possible restoration value is most constrained in the equal-interval high category. As a relatively new decision-support tool, the Landscape Planning Framework serves as a useful instrument for efficient management of an estuarine landscape to more effectively support its inhabitants.
Master's Thesis, University of Washington
Abstract: Managers, policy-makers, and practitioners often utilize spatially-explicit decision-support tools for assistance and guidance in managing highly dynamic and spatially diverse environmental systems. Here I explore the use of the Landscape Planning Framework as an example of a decision-support tool that supports a systematic, landscape-based approach to fish habitat management in the Columbia River estuary. I identified the importance of landscape features or habitat attributes to the growth and survival of ocean-type, juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and ranked them each on a scale from 1 (greatest importance) to 12 (least importance). I used these rankings to test the relative function of aquatic channel landscape features in identifying areas for potential restoration to benefit salmon stocks that rear in the estuary. In a series of five spatial trials I estimated the cumulative contribution of potential salmon habitat restoration areas by summing different combinations of rankings and grouping the ranking totals in equal-interval low (lowest potential restoration function), medium, and high (highest potential restoration function) categories. I calculated the abundance, length, area, and edge density of equal-interval categories, analyzed in the form of polygon layers, for purposes of comparison. Regardless of the combination of rankings and grouping totals, the equal-interval high category returned the lowest metric values. My results indicate that the set of sites characterized as areas of high possible restoration value is most constrained in the equal-interval high category. As a relatively new decision-support tool, the Landscape Planning Framework serves as a useful instrument for efficient management of an estuarine landscape to more effectively support its inhabitants.
Master's Thesis, University of Washington
Reversals and migratory movements of Atlantic salmon smolts
Molly J. Good, John F. Kocik, and Graham Goulette
Abstract:
Researchers have given considerable attention to research areas including the history, distribution, and behavior of salmonids in scientific articles, literature reviews, and analyses completed over the last few decades. However, there is little information or supporting data that focuses on migration movements and patterns that integrate salmonid behavior, physiology, and environmental factors. This literature review comprises findings from an examination of peer reviewed sources, highlighting Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and including species with similar ecology: steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). Fisheries research biologists believe that declines in fish populations have made a better understanding of salmon movement imperative. Acquiring further insight into these migration patterns may lead to more successful and sustainable salmon management strategies.
This report is a working paper and should not be considered an official policy paper issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Undergraduate Research Project, Atlantic Salmon Ecosystems and Research Team, Orono, Maine
Abstract:
Researchers have given considerable attention to research areas including the history, distribution, and behavior of salmonids in scientific articles, literature reviews, and analyses completed over the last few decades. However, there is little information or supporting data that focuses on migration movements and patterns that integrate salmonid behavior, physiology, and environmental factors. This literature review comprises findings from an examination of peer reviewed sources, highlighting Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and including species with similar ecology: steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). Fisheries research biologists believe that declines in fish populations have made a better understanding of salmon movement imperative. Acquiring further insight into these migration patterns may lead to more successful and sustainable salmon management strategies.
This report is a working paper and should not be considered an official policy paper issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Undergraduate Research Project, Atlantic Salmon Ecosystems and Research Team, Orono, Maine
Molly J. Good, Ph.D.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Washington Fish and Wildlife Office Lacey, Washington [email protected] (564) 669-1923 (work cell) |