All Outputs (88)

Larval and juvenile fish abundance, habitat, water quality, flow and climate data from English rivers, 1984-2017 (2025)
Data
(2025). Larval and juvenile fish abundance, habitat, water quality, flow and climate data from English rivers, 1984-2017. [Data]. https://doi.org/10.5285/c904c5f0-7f21-4759-a7d4-c262da230b53

This dataset contains monthly/annual time series of species-specific abundances and covariates for 137 targeted larval/juvenile fish surveys at sites in a range of English lowland rivers. Larval/juvenile fish data come from two different sources: The... Read More about Larval and juvenile fish abundance, habitat, water quality, flow and climate data from English rivers, 1984-2017.

Diverse migration strategies of ariid catfishes along a salinity gradient in the Mekong River (2024)
Journal Article
Vu, A. V., Baumgartner, L. J., Limburg, K. E., Gillanders, B. M., Mallen-Cooper, M., Howitt, J. A., Thiem, J. D., Doran, G. S., Kewish, C. M., & Cowx, I. G. (2024). Diverse migration strategies of ariid catfishes along a salinity gradient in the Mekong River. Fisheries research, 279, Article 107133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2024.107133

Ariid catfishes (Ariidae family) are important migratory fish species in the Mekong River, with some species representing a major harvest component from the river. Limited biological information exists, and in particular their migration patterns are... Read More about Diverse migration strategies of ariid catfishes along a salinity gradient in the Mekong River.

Fish abundance, habitat, water quality, flow and climate data from English rivers,1975-2017 (2024)
Data
Ainsworth, R., Keller, V., Bachiller- Jareno, N., Jürgens, M., Eastman, M., Sadykova, D., Rizzo, C., Scarlett, P., Peirson, G., Eley, F., Antoniou, V., Cowx, I., Johnson, A., & Nunn, A. (2024). Fish abundance, habitat, water quality, flow and climate data from English rivers,1975-2017. [Data]. https://doi.org/10.5285/b0afb78e-a0cb-4762-9220-659211ae3a5e

This dataset contains a time series of species-specific fish abundances and covariates for 1180 fish sites in English rivers. Sites with at least ten annual fish surveys in the Environment Agency’s (EA) National Fish Population Database (NFPD) betwee... Read More about Fish abundance, habitat, water quality, flow and climate data from English rivers,1975-2017.

Inland recreational fisheries contribute nutritional benefits and economic value but are vulnerable to climate change (2024)
Journal Article
Lynch, A. J., Embke, H. S., Nyboer, E. A., Wood, L. E., Thorpe, A., Phang, S. C., Viana, D. F., Golden, C. D., Milardi, M., Arlinghaus, R., Baigun, C., Beard, T. D., Cooke, S. J., Cowx, I. G., Koehn, J. D., Lyach, R., Potts, W., Robertson, A. M., Schmidhuber, J., & Weyl, O. L. (2024). Inland recreational fisheries contribute nutritional benefits and economic value but are vulnerable to climate change. Nature Food, 5, 433-443. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-024-00961-8

Inland recreational fishing is primarily considered a leisure-driven activity in freshwaters, yet its harvest can contribute to food systems. Here we estimate that the harvest from inland recreational fishing equates to just over one-tenth of all rep... Read More about Inland recreational fisheries contribute nutritional benefits and economic value but are vulnerable to climate change.

Understanding the Threats to Fish Migration: Applying the Global Swimways Concept to the Lower Mekong (2024)
Journal Article
Cowx, I. G., Vu, A. V., Hogan, Z., Mallen-Cooper, M., Baumgartner, L. J., Lai, T. Q., Grill, G., & Sayer, C. A. (2024). Understanding the Threats to Fish Migration: Applying the Global Swimways Concept to the Lower Mekong. Reviews in Fisheries Science & Aquaculture, https://doi.org/10.1080/23308249.2024.2401018

The Mekong River basin is a biodiversity hotspot and supports the largest inland capture fishery globally. The fish and fisheries, especially migratory species that underpin the capture fisheries, are, however, under threat from multiple pressures, n... Read More about Understanding the Threats to Fish Migration: Applying the Global Swimways Concept to the Lower Mekong.

Can't pass or won't pass: the importance of motivation when quantifying improved connectivity for riverine brown trout Salmo trutta (2023)
Journal Article
Dodd, J. R., Cowx, I. G., Joyce, D. A., & Bolland, J. D. (in press). Can't pass or won't pass: the importance of motivation when quantifying improved connectivity for riverine brown trout Salmo trutta. Journal of fish biology, https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.15628

Reversing the negative impacts that anthropogenic habitat fragmentation has on animal movement is a key goal in the management of landscapes and conservation of species globally. Accurate assessment of measures to remediate habitat fragmentation, suc... Read More about Can't pass or won't pass: the importance of motivation when quantifying improved connectivity for riverine brown trout Salmo trutta.

Reasons to Be Skeptical about Sentience and Pain in Fishes and Aquatic Invertebrates (2023)
Journal Article
Diggles, B. K., Arlinghaus, R., Browman, H. I., Cooke, S. J., Cooper, R. L., Cowx, I. G., …Watson, C. (in press). Reasons to Be Skeptical about Sentience and Pain in Fishes and Aquatic Invertebrates. Reviews in Fisheries Science & Aquaculture, https://doi.org/10.1080/23308249.2023.2257802

The welfare of fishes and aquatic invertebrates is important, and several jurisdictions have included these taxa under welfare regulation in recent years. Regulation of welfare requires use of scientifically validated welfare criteria. This is why ap... Read More about Reasons to Be Skeptical about Sentience and Pain in Fishes and Aquatic Invertebrates.

Stocking fish in inland waters: Opportunities and risks for sustainable food systems (2023)
Journal Article
Cowx, I. G., Funge-Smith, S. J., & Lynch, A. J. (in press). Stocking fish in inland waters: Opportunities and risks for sustainable food systems. Fisheries Management and Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1111/fme.12656

Stocking is one of the foremost tools in the inland fisheries management toolbox, but it comes with both opportunities and risks. Stocking is often used as compensation for depleted wild populations, particularly where recruitment processes have been... Read More about Stocking fish in inland waters: Opportunities and risks for sustainable food systems.

Hydropower Development and the Neglect of Inland Capture Fisheries from a Food Systems Perspective (2023)
Journal Article
Friend, R. M., Arthur, R. I., Brugere, C., Cowx, I. G., Doherty, B., Mak, S., Islam, M. M., Nunan, F., Paavola, J., Sretthachau, C., Stewart, B. D., Thankappan, S., & Vaddhanaphuti, C. (in press). Hydropower Development and the Neglect of Inland Capture Fisheries from a Food Systems Perspective. Society & Natural Resources, https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2023.2223551

This paper addresses why food security implications of projected losses to inland capture fisheries due to hydropower development have been neglected in policy arenas. Drawing on the case of the Lower Mekong Basin, this paper applies a conceptual fra... Read More about Hydropower Development and the Neglect of Inland Capture Fisheries from a Food Systems Perspective.

A dynamic dendritic connectivity assessment tool for the planning and design of barrier mitigation strategies in river networks (2023)
Journal Article
King, M., van Zyll de Jong, M., & Cowx, I. G. (2023). A dynamic dendritic connectivity assessment tool for the planning and design of barrier mitigation strategies in river networks. Landscape Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-023-01627-9

Context: Increasing fragmentation of rivers caused by barriers continues to impact watersheds, especially disruption of fish migration patterns and loss of access to spawning and nursery habitats. Infrastructure expansion and ageing installations exa... Read More about A dynamic dendritic connectivity assessment tool for the planning and design of barrier mitigation strategies in river networks.

Putting the fish into inland fisheries – A global allocation of historic inland fish catch (2023)
Journal Article
Ainsworth, R. F., Cowx, I. G., & Funge-Smith, S. J. (2023). Putting the fish into inland fisheries – A global allocation of historic inland fish catch. Fish and Fisheries, https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12725

Inland waters support the livelihoods of up to 820 million people and provide fisheries that make an essential contribution towards food security, particularly in the developing world where 90% of inland fisheries catch is consumed. Despite their imp... Read More about Putting the fish into inland fisheries – A global allocation of historic inland fish catch.

An integrated decision driven design framework to support the ecological restoration of rivers (2021)
Journal Article
King, M., van Zyll de Jong, M., Piercey, D., Nunn, A. D., & Cowx, I. G. (in press). An integrated decision driven design framework to support the ecological restoration of rivers. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2021.1932772

A structured and collaborative approach to design and decision‐making in the context of ecological restoration of rivers is developed and illustrated using a case study involving the mitigation of physical barriers to fish migration on the River Tren... Read More about An integrated decision driven design framework to support the ecological restoration of rivers.

Downstream passage of silver European eel (Anguilla anguilla) at a pumping station with a gravity sluice (2020)
Journal Article
Baker, N. J., Wright, R. M., Cowx, I. G., Murphy, L. A., & Bolland, J. D. (2020). Downstream passage of silver European eel (Anguilla anguilla) at a pumping station with a gravity sluice. Ecological engineering, Article 106069. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2020.106069

The European eel (Anguilla anguilla (L.)) is critically endangered after a multi-decadal decline. Anthropogenic disruption to downstream migration, including at water control structures such as pumping stations, is thought to be one of the contributi... Read More about Downstream passage of silver European eel (Anguilla anguilla) at a pumping station with a gravity sluice.

Effects of climate and land-use changes on fish catches across lakes at a global scale (2020)
Journal Article
Kao, Y. C., Rogers, M. W., Bunnell, D. B., Cowx, I. G., Qian, S. S., Anneville, O., Beard, T. D., Brinker, A., Britton, J. R., Chura-Cruz, R., Gownaris, N. J., Jackson, J. R., Kangur, K., Kolding, J., Lukin, A. A., Lynch, A. J., Mercado-Silva, N., Moncayo-Estrada, R., Njaya, F. J., Ostrovsky, I., …Young, J. D. (2020). Effects of climate and land-use changes on fish catches across lakes at a global scale. Nature communications, 11(1), Article 2526. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14624-2

© 2020, The Author(s). Globally, our knowledge on lake fisheries is still limited despite their importance to food security and livelihoods. Here we show that fish catches can respond either positively or negatively to climate and land-use changes, b... Read More about Effects of climate and land-use changes on fish catches across lakes at a global scale.

Dynamic competition and resource partitioning during the early life of two widespread, abundant and ecologically similar fishes (2020)
Journal Article
Nunn, A. D., Vickers, L., Mazik, K., Bolland, J., Peirson, G., Axford, S., Henshaw, A., & Cowx, I. G. (2020). Dynamic competition and resource partitioning during the early life of two widespread, abundant and ecologically similar fishes. Hydrobiologia, 847, 2211-2224. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-020-04247-5

Competition and resource partitioning can have profound implications for individuals, populations and communities, and thus food webs, ecosystems and the management of biota and environments. In many species, the impacts of competition and resource p... Read More about Dynamic competition and resource partitioning during the early life of two widespread, abundant and ecologically similar fishes.

The Response of River-Resident Fish to Reservoir Freshet Releases of Varying Profiles Intended to Facilitate a Spawning Migration (2020)
Journal Article
Baker, N. J., Taylor, M. J., Harvey, J. P., Angelopoulos, N. V., Smith, M. A., Noble, R. A., Tinsdeall, M., Bolland, J. D., Baxter, J., Baker, N., Taylor, M., Cowx, I. G., Harvey, J., Nunn, A. D., Angelopoulos, N., Smith, M., Noble, R., Tinsdeall, M., Baxter, J., & Bolland, J. (2020). The Response of River-Resident Fish to Reservoir Freshet Releases of Varying Profiles Intended to Facilitate a Spawning Migration. Water Resources Research, 56(6), Article e2018WR024196. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018WR024196

Natural hydrological regimes encompass varying seasonal flow characteristics that provide fish with cues and opportunities for upstream spawning migrations, but these flows are often modified/absent in regulated rivers. Compensatory artificial flows... Read More about The Response of River-Resident Fish to Reservoir Freshet Releases of Varying Profiles Intended to Facilitate a Spawning Migration.

Refinement of acoustic-tagging protocol for twaite shad Alosa fallax (Lacépède), a species sensitive to handling and sedation (2019)
Journal Article
Bolland, J. D., Nunn, A. D., Angelopoulos, N. V., Dodd, J. R., Davies, P., Gutmann Roberts, C., Britton, J. R., & Cowx, I. G. (2019). Refinement of acoustic-tagging protocol for twaite shad Alosa fallax (Lacépède), a species sensitive to handling and sedation. Fisheries research, 212, 183-187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2018.12.006

© 2018 Elsevier B.V. Telemetry investigations to gather essential information about fish migrations are reliant on the behaviour, condition and survival of the animals being unaltered by the tagging procedure. Twaite shad (Alosa fallax Lacépède; 'sha... Read More about Refinement of acoustic-tagging protocol for twaite shad Alosa fallax (Lacépède), a species sensitive to handling and sedation.

Direct and indirect impacts of pumping station operation on downstream migration of critically endangered European eel (2018)
Journal Article
Bolland, J. D., Murphy, L. A., Stanford, R. J., Angelopoulos, N. V., Baker, N. J., Wright, R. M., Reeds, J. D., & Cowx, I. G. (2019). Direct and indirect impacts of pumping station operation on downstream migration of critically endangered European eel. Fisheries Management and Ecology, 26(1), 76-85. https://doi.org/10.1111/fme.12312

© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Downstream passage of European eel Anguilla anguilla (L.) in catchments with pump(s) for water level management is a major concern. Catchment-wide acoustic telemetry revealed silver eels quickly migrated downstream thro... Read More about Direct and indirect impacts of pumping station operation on downstream migration of critically endangered European eel.

Optimising hydropower development and ecosystem services in the Kafue River, Zambia (2018)
Journal Article
Cowx, I. G., Lungu, A., & Kalonga, M. (2018). Optimising hydropower development and ecosystem services in the Kafue River, Zambia. Marine and Freshwater Research, 69(12), 1974-1982. https://doi.org/10.1071/MF18132

Fisheries are an important resource in Zambia, but are experiencing overexploitation and are under increasing pressure from external development activities that are compromising river ecosystem services and functioning. One such system is the Kafue F... Read More about Optimising hydropower development and ecosystem services in the Kafue River, Zambia.

Upstream passage of adult sea trout (Salmo trutta) at a low-head weir with an Archimedean screw hydropower turbine and co-located fish pass (2018)
Journal Article
Dodd, J. R., Bolland, J. D., Hateley, J., Cowx, I. G., Walton, S. E., Cattaneo, M. E. G. V., & Noble, R. A. A. (2018). Upstream passage of adult sea trout (Salmo trutta) at a low-head weir with an Archimedean screw hydropower turbine and co-located fish pass. Marine and Freshwater Research, 69(12), 1822-1833. https://doi.org/10.1071/MF18125

© 2018 CSIRO. The exploitation of riverine systems for renewable energy has resulted in large numbers of small-scale hydropower schemes on low-head weirs. Although considered a clean and 'green' energy source in terms of emissions, hydropower can aff... Read More about Upstream passage of adult sea trout (Salmo trutta) at a low-head weir with an Archimedean screw hydropower turbine and co-located fish pass.