Biology and Management of Coregonid Fishes - 2017

The current volume represents a broad and diverse selection of the presentations shared in Bayfield, Wisconsin (USA) at the 13th International Symposium on the Biology and Management of Coregonid Fishes. This meeting, which was held 10-15 September 2017, embraced the traditions founded by previous meetings and celebrated the diversity of research conducted across the Northern Hemisphere. The published proceedings that have resulted from the twelve previous meetings have become an important foundation for our understanding of coregonids and the aquatic systems in which they reside. We are confident that the current volume adds to that tradition by providing novel insights that will inspire new approaches to the research and management of coregonids. Coregonids in Lake Superior support large-scale commercial operations and smaller-scale subsistence fisheries. The importance of coregonids to native communities across North America, Europe, and Asia cannot be overstated and a special session at the symposium highlighted several cases in point. The first invited note describes the cultural significance of European whitefish to communities along the Tornio River, which divides Finland and Sweden. The second invited note acknowledges that social media has become an important form of communication and describes the effort to expand the access and reach of the 13th International Coregonid Symposium. Management strategies for coregonid fisheries range from absent to complex. The first section of this volume provides several accounts of management actions employed in Finland, the USA, and Russia. Any attempt at management requires some understanding of stock status. The second section includes novel attempts to better appreciate population dynamics and behavior of coregonids and includes eight manuscripts from the USA, Norway, and Canada. The third section highlights the role of coregonids within lacustrine and riverine systems and includes six manuscripts from the USA, Canada, and Finland. Managers attempting to restore coregonid populations often rely on stocking programs to achieve objectives. The fourth section is comprised of insights from propagation efforts in Europe and North America and includes contributions from Austria, Germany, and the USA. The final section is devoted to evolutionary ecology and genetics and includes two manuscripts from the Great Lakes region of the USA and Canada. The one hundred scientists from nine countries that attended the first symposium in Winnipeg, Canada in 1969 could not have known the future influence of that formative meeting. The recognition by the organizers that "the international character of the problems make desirable the greatest possible scientific discussion and exchange between specialists in different countries" has been the guiding tenet of all thirteen meetings. This collection of manuscripts represents a continuation of the institution that has become of the Biology and Management of Coregonid Fishes and will be a valued source of information for those committed to understanding, sustaining, and restoring this remarkable group of fish.