Ecosystem modeling of reservoirs for sustainable fisheries development

Preetha Panikkar and M. Feroz Khan

Reservoir Division of CIFRI,
Hessarghatta Lake Post, Bangalore – 560089.

Reservoirs are the single largest inland water resource in our country both in terms of area and
production potential. Reservoir fisheries in general are small-scale activities where the catch per
effort is relatively small and mostly the catch are disposed of on the same day. The lack of
accurate reporting of these small-scale fisheries makes it difficult to describe their status but it is
generally felt that they are under considerable pressure from loss and degradation of habitat and
over fishing. Freshwater fishes are reported to be the most threatened group of vertebrates
harvested by man.. Catches of large, long lived species such as the giant catfish and large
cyprinid species are becoming rare and there is evidence of “fishing down the food chain” in
some inland water bodies.

Reservoir ecosystem includes a variety of organisms occupying different trophic levels which are
interconnected into a complex food web. Ecological models are useful in the prediction of
ecosystem behaviour over time which is caused by human impact such as fishing or changes in
the environment (pollution, climate changes etc). Recent applications of ecosystem models helps
in evaluating how fisheries and environmental changes have affected fish populations. The
challenge now is to manage fisheries as integral part of the ecosystem and find tools for optimal
use of our diverse aquatic ecosystems in a responsible and sustainable way.

Ecosystem models with strong field data allow for the quantification of ground conditions
against which future model predictions can be compared. This approach assists resource
managers and scientists in determining the effects of anthropogenic changes on ecosystems.
Instead of focusing on a single-species, ecosystem modelling strives to consider the capacity of
the ecosystem as a whole to produce food, revenues, employment and other essential and
desirable services for humankind. Ecosystem models can thus be used to quantify the direct and
indirect economic benefits of reservoirs, which are often needed to evaluate benefits versus costs
of various management alternatives for sustainable fisheries development.

An ecosystem model may be a valid representation of a real ecosystem. The models help in
developing sustainable fisheries and providing livelihoods to rural poor through improved
fisheries management in reservoirs. There are many recent developments in building of trophic
models of aquatic ecosystems.

Mass balance models

By ‘mass balance’ we mean that the total flow of mass (or energy) into each species group must
equal the flow out of the group and that mass and energy are conserved within a closed system.
Mass-balance biomass models are being used globally as an efficient and useful method to
systematically describe ecosystems and to explore their properties. Such scientific tools will
provide valuable information on the health of aquatic habitats, as well as the capacity to support
biological production and sustainable fisheries development.

Ecopath with Ecosim

The Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) modelling approach combines software for ecosystem
trophic mass balance analysis (Ecopath), with a dynamic modelling version (Ecosim) for
exploring past and future impacts of fishing and environmental disturbances. Ecopath is a mass
balance model where production and consumption are balanced in a steady state system. Ecopath
handles flows in and out of the ecosystem by means of import and export. Ecosim is a time-
dynamic simulation model. Ecosim which builds on ecopath helps to study the impact of fishing
in an ecosystem. They constitute a simple approach to represent the complexity of an ecosystem,
and they involve a mass-balance description of trophic interactions between all the functional
groups of the ecosystem. Such scientific tools will provide valuable information on the health of
aquatic habitats, as well as the capacity to support biological production and sustainable fisheries
development. Mass-balance Ecopath and Ecosim modelling has advantages in making clear the
impacts of harvest, comparing the effects of different gear types, and in being able to provide
estimates of unknown biomasses. It can therefore validate anecdotal information on presence
or absence, and relative abundance of fish species.

EwE is coming to be widely used as a tool for analysis of exploited aquatic ecosystems, having
reached 2000 odd registered users in 118 countries. The Ecopath with Ecosim software has not
only increased the quantitative power of approach, but has allowed qualitatively new questions to
be asked. The package is extremely useful and, if critically applied, can provide very useful
information complementary to existing assessment/ simulation methods.

Ecosystem ‘health’ indices

The potential indicators of ecosystem status will be defined from fish population and community
characteristics, environmental conditions, and fishing activities in the reservoir. One area of
research of this approach relates to ecosystem maturity that descibes the ecosystem ‘health’. A
healthy ecosystem is identified as a mature ecosystem that has the capacity to withstand
disturbances caused by human beings or nature. When ecosystems are disturbed, notably by
fishing, we expect their maturity to decrease. In a more mature system all niches would be filled,
a larger part of the energy flows should be through detritus-based food webs and primary
production should be more efficiently utilized. The food chain structure will be like a network in
a mature ecosystem.

Ecosystem modelling is still in its infancy, but stands to become a central tool in fisheries
management. It is therefore important that ecosystem models convey insights and uncertainties
to managers and fishers if they are to be used for sustainable fish production. Ecosystem models
such as mass balance models can describe the biomass flows between the different elements of
the exploited ecosystems, and can provide answer to ‘what if’ questions regarding the likely
outcome of alternate fishing policies.