Fishery System Research Articles

Relevance of Local Wisdom towards Efforts to Achieve Sustainable Food Sovereignty in Bangsal Village, Pampangan District, Ogan Komering Ilir Regency

This study aims paused analyzing the relevance of local wisdom toward efforts in achieving sustainable food sovereignty in Bangsal Village, Pampangan District, Ogan Komering Ilir Regency. This exploratory descriptive study was conducted in Bangsal Village, Pampangan District, Ogan Komering Ilir Regency in February 2020. Data collected were both of primary and secondary data. The analyses show that the swamp marshland was managed into three parts, i.e. buffalo husbandry, swamp fish farming and rice farming is provably more appropriate. For the buffalo husbandry, the community apply their local wisdom of kalang (shepherd) system. While for the fish farming, the capture fishery (beje) system was used. Futhermore, for rice cultivation, it consists of several stages with their respective local wisdom used, i.e. a) tillage, using rewang and perarian systems, b) Seeding, using seeds from their last harvest, c) planting, transplanting, spaced planting, or direct planting (tunjam) d) fertilizing, using weeds or wild plants, e) maintaining, with local wisdom, using scarecrow and plastic surrounding field, f) harvest, mutual cooperation in cutting the rice with sickle (ngarit bersama), and g) post-harvest, selling the harvest directly or self-storage. The results show mean of 54.60 from the 7 indicators and it was included in high criteria. It is conluded that there was a significant relevance between local wisdom and efforts to achieve sustainable food sovereignty in Bangsal Village.

Mini review: Characteristics of upwelling in several coastal areas in the world

This paper provides an overview of the upwelling processes and the controlling factors as an effort to reveal the characteristics and the intensities of upwelling events in several parts of the world. This review aimed at identifying the characteristics of upwelling and how the global climate controlling this physic phenomenon such as ENSO, IOD and Kelvin Wave. Several places in the Southeast Asia experienced high intensities of upwelling when El Nino events such as in South of Java, East Coast of Malaysia Peninsula and in Vietnam Coastal area. The results of this review found that area with the most intensive and productive upwelling in the world is South American waters and Banguela Upwelling System (BUS) in the African Coast. However, several other areas also show intensive and high productivity of upwelling, such as off the southern coast of Java Island in Indonesia and the Banda Sea and its surroundings. It is found that upwelling with stronger intensity can result in increase of mortality of certain organisms such as scallops. Additionally, increase of nutrients in a waters is often accompanied by an increase in several species of toxic algae that are harmful to the local fishery system (harmful algae blooms, HABs).

МОДЕЛИРОВАНИЕ СИСТЕМЫ «ПРОМЫСЕЛ» НА ОСНОВЕ БИОТЕХНОЛОГИЧЕСКОГО ДУАЛИЗМА

The article considers the essential feature of the system modeling of high-level fishery systems, e.g. the ‘Fishery’ system, the use of the principle of their internal self-organization, taking into account the influence of external factors - limitations. The internal structure of the ‘Fishery’ system is formed by a combination of biological, technical and technological components. Objects and sets of technical and technological components are interdependent, have a technical and technological nature and are combined into a single technological component. In this sense, the ‘Fishery’ system has a dual natural structure - biotechnological dualism, which is determined by the two components which simultaneously present and function in the system. In addition, the fishing process is greatly influenced by a set of restrictions and certain uncontrollable factors. By their simultaneous action they impart stochasticism and uncertainty to the fishing production process. Modeling of the ‘Fishery’ system was carried out using the decomposition method with consideration of the model of the composition of the system according to the signs (components) of duality - biological and technological components, which are its interrelated subsystems with the choice of an appropriate decomposition strategy - decomposition by subsystems (structural decomposition) with simultaneous embedding restrictive probabilistic component. Modeling of the blocks and the entire system was carried out taking into account the definition of component and restrictive relationships and relationships that determine both the static and dynamic nature of the ‘Fishery’ system in their initial state, i.e. without taking into account possible transient states in time intervals determined by the fishing situation. The generalized ‘Fishery’ system modeled on the basis of biotechnological dualism makes it possible to obtain a holistic view of its compositional composition, taking into account the impact of restrictions of a different nature, uncontrollable factors accompanying the production process of extraction of aquatic biological resources in the fishing areas. The resulting model in its initial static state is the initial biotechnological model for carrying out subsequent optimization control actions during its transition to a dynamic state in the time intervals indicated by the fishery

Паразитарні хвороби сигових риб (Coregoninae) (огляд)

Purpose: To analyze the specialized literature and summarize the information on the main parasitic diseases of whitefish. Findings: Whitefish are members of the Salmoniformes, which are currently represented by 3 subgroups (Salmonidae, Coregonidae, Thymallidae). Whitefishes are widespread species of fish in the subarctic and boreal zones of Europe, Asia and North America and are the most important components of the ecological system and valuable objects of local and industrial fishery. But these fishes are frequently affected by parasitic diseases. This article contains the description of most common parasitic diseases of whitefish and of the main causative agent, clinical signs of diseases, and the main preventive measures to prevent the occurrence of these diseases in whitefish culture. Aquaculture of whitefish creates a competitive food production for one or two fattening seasons with their delicacy gastronomic benefits and high economic profitability. Products of whitefish are popular on external markets that is also a good motivation for improvement of the biotechnological development for various methods of cultivation of these valuable fish. However, with increasing amounts of production, transporting fish from one farm to another and crowded stocks of fish result in problems with diseases of different etiology. The above material describes main parasitic diseases that occur in whitefish including their main symptoms, which will help to identify them in time. Practical value. Information on the main parasitic diseases of whitefish was systematized. Most of the parasitic diseases known to the whitefish are ectoparasitosis. These are ichthyobodosis (costosis), trichodinosis, chylodonelosis, ichthioftirioz, trichophthirioz and cruciformis. Proteocephalosis, acanthocephalosis, diplomystomosis are the most dangerous among helminths. The short characteristic of these diseases is described and the methods of prophylaxis of these diseases are suggested. The review can be useful both for scientists dealing with the problem of whitefish acclimatization on the territory of Ukraine and for fish breeders already engaged in the whitefish aquaculture in Ukraine and abroad. Descriptions of symptoms of diseases will be useful for preliminary diagnostics of diseases. Key words: whitefish, parasites, ectoparasites, helminthes, diseases, ichthyobodosis, trichodionosis, chylodonelosis, ichthioftirioz, trichophriosis, chloromycosis, ergazilosis, lerneosis, argulosis, roteocephalosis, mechinorinchosis, diplostomosis.

Catch Composition of Set Net Fisheries during Normal Season in Sungai Sembilang Waters, Selangor, Malaysia

Highlight ResearchThe Set Net was identified and recorded.Length and weight of the catch of set net was analyzed. AbstractSet net fisheries are made according to traditional fishing gears method in the coastal waters of Sungai Sembilang, Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia. These fisheries system are the passive structure of gear used to catch fish that swim in shallow water with muddy substrate. This study focused on determining the species variety and the possible future of set net fisheries in Sungai Sembilang. Catch composition of set net was investigated based on the catch data during July to December 2020 and continued from January to February 2021. The catch data was recorded by a research assistant on site during fishing season. The data consist of species, length and weight of all catches recorded. Total catch of 60 fish species belonging to 23 families were captured during this study period. Ariidae (31.73%), Clupeidae (11.56%), and Scatophagidae (7.96%) were determined as dominant families caught this set net. The total dominant catch amount of species Plicofollis argyropleuron (18.71%), Nemapteryx caelata (9.96%), and Anodontostoma chacunda (8.92%) compromised 37.6% of the total catch. This type of fishing gear can be used by local fisherman to catch fishes and can prevent trawl net from come closer to the shore. This study would provide some general useful information about the status of set net fisheries as well as the species abundance caught from the set net.

Monitoring small-scale fisheries catches in Indonesia through a fishing logbook system: Challenges and strategies

In Indonesia, small-scale fisheries involve about 90% of the total number of fishers and generate significant employment for coastal communities. As defined by Indonesian law, these fisheries are exempted from catch reporting which creates a large gap in catch data for estimating stock status and fishing pressure. Indonesian small-scale fishers are scattered across thousands of islands so that monitoring catches is difficult without a systematic approach to ensure long-term benefits. This paper describes the results of work by the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, in partnership with the USAID Sustainable Ecosystems Advanced (SEA) Project, to initiate the development of a fishing logbook system for small-scale fisheries. This initiative addressed challenging issues pertaining to Indonesian institutional arrangements, capabilities of small-scale fisheries and reliability of fishing logbook data. A holistic intervention using the sustainable livelihood approach was used to unpack the complexities and develop strategies of enabling factors to establish a catch monitoring system for Indonesian small-scale fisheries. This initiative shows that a tradeoff between an ideal fishing logbook system versus an applicable model that may compromise logbook data qualities is inevitable. Also, co-management is seen as a suitable for the purposes of establishing a catch reporting system for Indonesian small-scale fisheries. The initial work described herein is seen as an essential steppingstone for improving management of small-scale fisheries in Indonesia.

Climate Change and Fisheries: Perspectives from Small-Scale Fishing Community in Badagry, Lagos, Nigeria

The present study focused on impact of climate change on livelihood of Ganyingbo fishing community in Badagry, from June to September, 2020. Data were collected through administration of 58 structured questionnaires to artisanal fishermen while test of significance of research hypotheses was conducted using chi-square and t-test at 95% confidence interval. The results showed that the fisher folks composed of 83% male and 17% female. The most common age group among fishermen was 30-39 years (27.58%) and 57% do not have other job apart from fishing. Majority (37.93%) of the fishermen did not attain beyond secondary school education while only 3.45% had tertiary education. Calculated coefficient of marketing efficiency indicated that 54.8% and 72.26% of their sales revenue were taken up by costs before and after the effect of climate change respectively. Total expenditure of fishermen increased by 24.9% while income decreased by 5.26%. The t-test analysis indicated significant (p<0.05) difference between the total cost associated with fishing in Ganyingbo before (N17850.0± 2015.22) and after (N22300.0 ± 6297.40) effect of the climate change. Fishermen (87.93%) believed that adopting coping strategies to mitigate the climate change is germane for artisanal fisheries systems. A significant (p<0.05) difference was observed (X2 = 30.56: 9.49) between expected and observed perspective of fishermen based on viability of artisanal fisheries in Ganyingbo community. As noted in this study, fishing business in Ganyingbo is still viable however more effective mitigation measures are required to ensure its sustainability.

The Afghanistan aquaculture and fishery sectors - A foresight outlooks

Aquaculture systems and technologies are growing industries in many countries with high environmental and socio-economic advantages. Afghanistan, a landlocked country in South Asia with diverse geographic and ecological features, reported the lowest fish consumption rate (just above 2 kg per capita). After conflicts and instability in Afghanistan, aquaculture and fisheries sectors revived slowly, followed by a rapid production and demand increase in the last four years. However, Afghanistan can demonstrate with a long history of fishery and agriculture productions in the past, but the post-conflict and stability efforts are minimal. Therefore, Afghanistan's aquaculture and fisheries sectors are conventional and require more effort to study and propose viable solutions aligned with today’s technological and sustainability requirements. Adequate and historically documented information about Afghanistan's aquaculture and fisheries activities are pretty limited. This study covers previous aquaculture initiatives, establishes a thematic review of the current situation based on little available information, and follows by a foresight outlook of the future trends. Besides, it presents the essential factors associated with production-efficient aquaculture and fishery systems in light of economic and production performance indicators. These indicators are briefly discussed that contribute to system planners and practitioners in decision-making and optimizing economic and operational efficiencies. Besides of studying Afghanistan aquaculture and fishery sectors, the basic criteria for successful small scale aquaculture are also presented that can be counted as one of the recent compositions of the subject in terms of scholarly managed information within an exhaustive insight.

Assessing Procedural Justice in the Administration of Small-Scale Benthic Fisheries in Chile

In order to navigate toward ocean sustainability, policies, programs, and scientific research must address issues of justice. In fisheries management, justice has generally been understood in terms of the distribution of social, cultural, and economic benefits. However, there are also important procedural justice challenges in the fisheries system, which are fundamental to the long-term sustainability and equity of the oceans. Procedural justice is related to the conditions under which the negotiation for benefit distribution takes place. That is, the procedures, structures, and processes that lead to the distribution of resources. In this study, we empirically assess fishers’ perceptions of procedural justice components within a small-scale fishery management policy in Chile which has been shifting toward a polycentric type of governance during the past 7 years. We specifically assess perceptions of management committee members. Management committees have been constituted as spaces of collective action for participatory decision-making. We decompose procedural justice in seven subcomponents and assess perceptions associated to achievement in the administration of fisheries. Our results show that management committee members perceive heterogeneity in the achievement of different procedural justice components, which is a central element in achieving equitable development in the oceans. The highest perceptions of achievement were found in the procedures for the selection of participants, the use of various types of technical and local knowledge for decision-making, and the perception by participants of ethical and impartial procedures. We also identified significant challenges related to an inflexible legal structure that hinders adaptive management and learning as a tool for institutional transformation. In addition, mechanisms for communicating decisions to users and clear accountability procedures were perceived as weak. It is critical to address these gaps as they can jeopardize the implementation and legitimacy of fisheries management. Focusing on different components of procedural justice can provide an important lens through which advances and gaps in fisheries policy can be identified and worked upon.

Aggregation of hepatic melanomacrophage centers in S. herzbergii (Pisces, Ariidae) as indicators of environmental change and well-being

ABSTRACT The melanomacrophage centers (MMCs) in the liver of fish are indicators of environmental conditions, as they are involved in xenobiotic biotransformation. The objective of this study was to evaluate the number of MMC in the liver of juveniles and adults of Sciades herzbergii from areas with different levels of contamination. The fish were caught at three points (reference - A1, potentially impacted - A2 and contaminated - A3), in São José bay (Maranhão, Brazil), in four samples. The livers were subjected to the standard histological procedure and 5μm sections were stained with hematoxylin-eosin. In livers of A2 adult individuals (260.50±161.50 MMCs / mm²) they presented a greater number of MMCs when compared to A3 adults (60.00 ± 30.10 MMCs / mm²). Juveniles showed considerable values in A1 (100.00 ± 0.00 MMCs/mm²) and A2 (95.33 ± 33.00 MMCs / mm²) compared to juveniles in A3 (49.00±0.00 MMCs/mm²). These high values are unexpected for young people. The average number of MMC correlated with the rainy season in the region. The use of hepatic MMCs as a biomarker of exposure to pollutants, in particular substances from fisheries systems, such as ammonia and nitrite, proved to be adequate to differentiate areas with different levels of impacts.

Using mental models to quantify linear and non-linear relationships in complex fishery systems

Reducing uncertain outcomes of fishery management actions requires an understanding of how fishers will be affected by policy actions. This requires integrating the local expertise of commercial fishers and seafood processors into management planning to predict how regulatory changes could impact social-ecological systems. Participatory modeling between managers, scientists, and industry can be useful in integrating different perspectives and gaining a more comprehensive understanding of how different scenarios can cause direct and indirect impacts throughout fishery systems. We used group Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping exercises to describe the structure and dynamics of two economically important commercial fishery systems in Alaska, USA: the Bering Sea Pollock Catcher/Processor and Amendment 80 Groundfish fishery. Several components were identified by the fleets that had a relatively high number of links to other components in each system, including chum salmon catch for the pollock fleet and the deck sorting of halibut for the groundfish fleet. After identifying other critical relationships between regulatory, environmental, and operational changes, we developed a survey technique and regression analytical approach to define the shape of these relationships. Our results show both linear and non-linear relationships between bycatch regulations and fishing operations; thus, providing evidence counter to the traditional assumption that the relationships between policy and fishing operations are always linear and constant across variable levels of change. Our novel approach permits for more specific explorations of curvilinear patterns, social tipping points, and asymptotic limits to change, thereby allowing for improved assessments of the effects of regulatory and environmental change on fishing communities.

Проектирование многовидовой промысловой системы – промысловая зона

The modern tasks of fishing, as a process of carrying out fishing activities to achieve effective and rational use of biological resources in solving the problems of food security of the country, are complex in nature. The study of modern fishing and fishery systems and processes requires a new object-oriented framework for their formation and functioning. Such an unconditional advantage is possessed by the methodology of the systems approach, which makes it possible to classify and design newly created systems of the highest level, to study and establish their system characteristics, connections and requirements for subsequent modeling, to investigate intersystem connections and their interaction. Fishing activity in the fishing zone is formed by the systemic interaction of the raw material base of fishing, technical means for the extraction of aquatic biological resources, fishing technology, creating a new biotechnological system "fishing" with new qualifications in structure and content. The main stages of research and design were the process of identifying production processes of extraction carried out in the fishing zone with the designation of boundaries, composition of elements, establishing links with the environment, correlated with the aim of improving the quality of fishing; the process of the formation of the compositional structure and functions of the system - the production area, the properties of its elements that affect the system efficiency. System design of a biotechnological system - a fishing zone was carried out in stages with the designation of the composition of its classes (components) and sets of objects that formed the component composition of the system under study with an embedded fishing process, and the establishment of structural and functional dependencies and relationships. The designed model of the system is interconnected with its component composition through the imposition of three components established between the corresponding objects and sets: biological, technical and technological, as well as the establishment of inter-component structural and functional dependence and communication, linking all three components of the system with each other into a single mechanism and giving the entire system integrity in achieving a single goal.

Tipping point realized in cod fishery

Understanding tipping point dynamics in harvested ecosystems is of crucial importance for sustainable resource management because ignoring their existence imperils social-ecological systems that depend on them. Fisheries collapses provide the best known examples for realizing tipping points with catastrophic ecological, economic and social consequences. However, present-day fisheries management systems still largely ignore the potential of their resources to exhibit such abrupt changes towards irreversible low productive states. Using a combination of statistical changepoint analysis and stochastic cusp modelling, here we show that Western Baltic cod is beyond such a tipping point caused by unsustainable exploitation levels that failed to account for changing environmental conditions. Furthermore, climate change stabilizes a novel and likely irreversible low productivity state of this fish stock that is not adapted to a fast warming environment. We hence argue that ignorance of non-linear resource dynamics has caused the demise of an economically and culturally important social-ecological system which calls for better adaptation of fisheries systems to climate change.

Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries (TURF) in central-southern Chile: Their sustainability status from a transdisciplinary holistic approach

The Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries (TURF) system are a kind of marine property where user rights are assiged to collective entities of artisanal fishers’ organizations. But their effectivity continues to be limited, which demands a comprehensive evaluation of their social, economic, and ecological performance. Consequently, the practical integration and application of these aspects continue to be a significant challenge for their management. The “RAPFISH” multidimensional scaling technique was applied to assess the sustainability status of 19 TURFs of the Biobio Region (Chile), using 51 transdisciplinary attributes relating to ecological, economic, social, among other dimensions. The results obtained in the two-dimensional arrangement presented a sustainability gradient, due to the marked variations among the different TURFs, and only four cases had very weak sustainability scores. Broadly speaking, this study determined that the social dimension (score: 61.37%) had a “high” influence on the best performance of the TURF system, while the ecological, ethical, and institutional dimensions were rated from ‘regular’ to ‘bad’. Overall, results indicate an average performance in the “medium” sustainability range (score: 54.68%), and these results generated questions about the TURFs’ viability, mainly in those that have not reached their sustainability objectives. Therefore, more local studies are needed on the social dimension of this system, in order to define the effective participatory tools and social management plans in TURFs, which will contribute to improve their performance.

ABORDAGEM MULTIDISCIPLINAR PARA A IDENTIFICAÇÃO DOS SISTEMAS PESQUEIROS EM UM RESERVATÓRIO AMAZÔNICO: ESTUDO DE CASO NA HIDRELÉTRICA DE TUCURUÍ

As barragens causam profundas mudanças na estrutura dos ambientes e nas práticas de pesca das áreas sob sua influência. Um exemplo dessas mudanças ocorreu na barragem de Tucuruí­­, no sudeste do Pará, Brasil. As mudanças foram tipologias de pesca graduais e estabelecidas como formas únicas de captura que foram consolidadas ao longo do tempo. Neste documento, usando uma técnica de análise rápida baseada no princí­­pio de métier, foram identificados 14 sistemas de pesca com caracterí­­sticas particulares, mas, com base em uma observação mais holí­­stica (dimensões ecológica, econômica, social, tecnológica e de gestão), quatro grupos de sistemas pesqueiros foram claramente definidos. Do ponto de vista do gerenciamento, estudos dessa natureza são importantes, pois permitem o estabelecimento de práticas de gerenciamento mais criativas, baseadas nas deficiências encontradas nos sistemas ou grupo de sistemas.

Per-recruit modelling of pulse fisheries: comment on “Modelling pulse fishery systems in data-limited situations”

Abstract A pulse fishery is one where fishing occurs during a short period each year and is zero for the rest of the year. Grüss et al. proposed a continuous per-recruit model for such fisheries. However, this analysis is based on per-recruit equations that were derived under the assumption that fishing mortality is constant in time and, thus, do not apply to fisheries where F varies, such as a pulse fishery. A correct continuous per-recruit formulation for pulse fisheries is derived. In most cases, the continuous per-recruit model can be closely approximated by a discrete model, where the integrals are replaced by sums. A modification in the Baranov catch equation for pulse fisheries is also derived that can used to compute annual exploitation rates.

Smart Fishery: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda for Sustainable Fisheries in the Age of AI

Applications of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies for improving the sustainability of the smart fishery have become widespread. While sustainability is often claimed to be the desired outcome of AI applications, there is as yet little evidence on how AI contributes to the sustainable fishery. The purpose of this paper is to perform a systematic review of the literature on the smart fishery and to identify upcoming themes for future research on the sustainable fishery in the Age of AI. The findings of the review reveal that scholarly attention in AI-inspired fishery literature focuses mostly on automation of fishery resources monitoring, mainly detection, identification, and classification. Some papers list marine health and primary production which are vital dimensions for Large Marine Ecosystems to recycle nutrients to sustain anticipated production levels. Very few reviewed articles refer to assessing individual needs, particularly fishers, from AI deployment in fisheries and policy response from governments. We call for future AI for sustainable fishery studies on how fishers perceive AI needs, and how governments possess a tangible strategy or depth of understanding on the regulation of AI concerning smart fishery systems and research on resilience-enhancing policies to promote the value and potentials of the AI-inspired smart fishery in different locations.

Lessons learned for collaborative approaches to management when faced with diverse stakeholder groups in a rebuilding fishery

There is increasing demand within fisheries management for the adoption of management approaches that incorporate in-depth stakeholder participation, scientific uncertainty, multiple objectives, and characterizations of risk. One such approach—management strategy evaluation (MSE)—relies on participation with fishery interest groups to consolidate knowledge of the fishery system, define goals, and evaluate feasible management options. However, the focus of much of the literature on MSE emphasizes steps in implementation and its practical application, despite the fact that technical aspects of MSE have the potential to alienate participants without MSE experience. Using the Units 1 and 2 Canadian Atlantic redfish fishery as a case study, we here describe lessons learned from the MSE developed for this rebuilding fishery, focusing on four key challenges: identifying participants for MSE processes; clearly defining their roles; educating participants on the purpose, benefits, and scope of MSE; and mediating disagreements to acquire critical cooperation, inputs, and feedback from the different stakeholder groups within the MSE process.

MANAJEMEN PRODUKSI PERIKANAN TUNA, CAKALANG DAN TONGKOL, DI UPTD PPS KUTARAJA BANDA ACEH

Fishery production management is a management that regulates the utilization of fishery resources. The management can be described as a series of processes from data collection to implementation of management policies and actions to achieve the stated goals. Large pelagic fishery is one of the fishery commodities that has a relatively high economic value, so that the development of large pelagic fisheries can improve the economy of the community and the region. The purpose of this study was to determine the management system and production level of Tuna, Skipjack and Tongkol fisheries at the Kutaraja Ocean Fisheries Port, Banda Aceh, Aceh Province. The method used in this study is a survey method, with quantitative descriptive data analysis. The result of this research is that the production management system has several stages starting from incoming vessels, incoming vessel reporting, unloading stages, sorting fish, fish auctions, and fish distribution which will be distributed to UPI, Regional and Local.

Stakeholder Perceptions on the Governance of Fisheries Systems Transformed by Hydroelectric Dam Development in the Madeira River, Brazil

Hydroelectric dams often have significant impacts on freshwater fisheries. Major impacts are known to be driven by changes in river hydrology and fish ecology, but the role of governance arrangements in mitigating or exacerbating fisheries impacts from hydropower development is less understood. This study presents an analysis of stakeholder perceptions about the effects of hydroelectric dam implementation on fisheries governance arrangements in the Madeira River basin, Brazil. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 50 stakeholders representing the fishers and fish traders, government, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector. Fishers, non-governmental, and private sector agents perceived hydropower development to be the strongest factor driving fisheries decline or change over the past 10 years, while government staff perceived overfishing to be an equally or even more important factor. Most stakeholders affirmed that fisheries governance arrangements have weakened in the face of hydropower development, and that these arrangements have been insufficient to effectively mitigate or compensate for negative impacts on fisheries. Fishers, non-governmental and private sector agents saw lack of opportunities to participate in fisheries governance as a major contributing factor, while government staff emphasized lack of qualified personnel, lack of trust between agencies, and control over the decision-making process held by hydropower companies. Perspectives on other implications of governance arrangements were shared across stakeholder groups. These included increased conflicts; lack of interaction and coordination between agencies; the fragility of fishers’ social organization; lack of trust and reciprocity between organizations; and power imbalances between stakeholders. The results show that hydropower development impairs and changes relationships between diverse players involved in fisheries governance, which can exacerbate existing weaknesses and negatively affect fishery sustainability. Drawing from the perspectives and comments of the various stakeholders who participated in the study, we provide recommendations to improve freshwater fisheries governance in the Madeira River basin and in the Brazilian Amazon.