Fish
Water quantity and quality impacts the ways people interact with water. One of the most popular ways to interact with lakes and stream is through recreational activities like fishing. Just as human drinking water must meet certain standards, so too fish need certain water quality and quantity levels. Each stage of the life cycle of a fish requires a different set of these water levels.
The activities of people can drastically affect the populations of fish. Excessive water withdrawals can dramatically lower stream levels. Discharge of waste water from industries and sewage treatment plants can make the water quality or physical properties like temperature too extreme for fish. High nutrient levels can promote plant growth, reducing the dissolved oxygen levels in the water, which also reduces fish populations.
InterWET looks specifically at brown trout and shows how different factors affect their population levels. The researcher perspective uses a special calculator to show how different factors including stream depth, velocity, and temperature affect the habitat suitability for different life stages of the brown trout. The conservationist perspective gives an interactive map showing the PA Fish Commission fishing regulations for the streams in the Spring Creek Watershed and different restrictions caused by pollution. The local official perspective uses another special calculator to predict how certain local and fish commission policies may change the brown trout population levels in the Spring Creek Watershed.
Questions or Problems? Let me know at parson@andassoc.com.
Last revision 9/9/01.
Created by Shane Parson, Copyright 1999.
