| Sustainable Water Resource Management: Balancing Fisheries, Agriculture, and Recreational Sports |
| Paper ID : 1441-SPORTCONGRESS (R1) |
| Authors |
|
Salim Sharifian * Faculty of Marine Sciences |
| Abstract |
| Introduction: Freshwater resources face escalating pressures from competing demands across fisheries, agriculture, and recreational sports sectors. Lakes, reservoirs, dams, and river systems must support diverse and often conflicting uses while maintaining ecosystem integrity. This paper investigates integrated water resource management approaches that balance these competing demands, examining trade-offs, governance frameworks, and strategies for optimizing multiple benefits within sustainability constraints. Methods: This research synthesizes current literature on integrated water resource management (IWRM), analyzing hydrological data, ecological flow requirements, agricultural water demands, and recreational use patterns. We evaluated case studies from the Murray-Darling Basin (Australia), Cauca River Basin (Colombia), and Klamath Basin (USA) to identify effective management mechanisms. Analysis included water allocation systems, environmental flow methodologies, stakeholder participation processes, and adaptive management frameworks. Economic valuation studies quantifying benefits across sectors informed trade-off analyses. Results: Agricultural irrigation dominates freshwater consumption at approximately 70% of total withdrawals, often competing directly with ecological flows necessary for healthy fisheries and recreational water quality. Findings reveal that environmental flow requirements, when implemented, maintain fish populations supporting both commercial and recreational fishing while preserving ecosystem services. Successful management strategies include priority-based and market-based allocation mechanisms, conjunctive surface and groundwater management, demand reduction through efficiency improvements, and multi-objective dam operations. Participatory governance incorporating diverse stakeholders improves decision legitimacy and compliance. However, implementation faces challenges including institutional fragmentation, inadequate enforcement capacity, and climate change-induced hydrological variability. Conclusion: Sustainable water management requires integrated approaches transcending narrow sectoral perspectives to embrace holistic frameworks maintaining ecosystem integrity as the foundation for all human uses. Effective strategies combine adaptive governance, stakeholder participation, science-based allocation, infrastructure investment, and explicit recognition of water's ecological functions alongside economic values. Climate adaptation and flexible management systems capable of responding to unprecedented conditions are increasingly essential. |
| Keywords |
| water resource management, fisheries, agriculture, integrated water management, ecosystem services |
| Status: Abstract Accepted (Poster Presentation) |
