Global Swimways – balancing conservation of migratory fishes and development

Anthropogenic use of water resources is driving high levels of decline and extinction in freshwater species, in large part due to the  extensive impacts of hydrological alteration and fragmentation, which is leading to major disruption of fish migration routes.  To quantify this threat the project developed the “Global Swimways” concept for freshwater migratory fish as a way to connect fish, rivers and people globally, and to foster international cooperation in the management of transboundary fish migration routes.

We identified potential Swimways according to a preliminary set of criteria for presence of migratory freshwater fish: species richness, the number of threatened and endemic migratory fish using each river system, and the length of migrations undertaken. The resulting Swimways are visualized using an interactive online map explorer. The approach developed will be submitted for publication as the basis for wider discussion on formalizing these and other criteria and possible development of a  global standard for Swimways.

Project Aims

Through this project we aimed to evaluate the potential ecological impact on migratory fish species from the global proliferation of dams. This overarching aim was underpinned by several novel analyses and policy outputs that would help to inform decision makers on avoiding or minimizing the environmental costs of dam construction when planning to meet the rising demands for water and hydropower. This project is the first step toward connecting fish, rivers and people globally using a new “Swimways” concept, where a swimway is defined as a path used in fish migration.

Key Activities

Mapping the worlds migratory freshwater fishes

• To showcase the value of a Global Swimways map, an online explorer has been created based on multiple metrics highlighting rivers that support migratory fish www.globalswimways.com. A linked map explorer demonstrates more detailed spatial presentation for selected Swimways, including marine migration routes.

Tool for policy makers and river managers

• The Freshwater Report Tool in IBAT www.ibat-alliance.org been enhanced to identify migratory freshwater species upstream/downstream of sites being screened for infrastructure development.

Advocacy for conservation of migratory fishes

• An event at the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) COP 13 introduced the Swimways concept and global map explorer. In collaboration with the Dutch CMS representative we are investigating options for greater integration of Swimways into CMS policy.
• A special edition of the Living Planet Report worldfishmigrationfoundation.com/living-planet-index-2020/on migratory freshwater fishes was published with contributions from this project and employing the Swimways branding, reaching >80 million people.

Raising awareness of the values of migratory fishes and vulnerability to future infrastructure developments

• A 24-hour Global Swimways webinar involving 57 speakers from 6 continents and 100 countries was attended by 2,000 participants.
• Following this, the following outputs were created i) the Global Swimways webpage www.globalswimways.com which links to; ii) story map; ii) global map explorer; iii) case study map explorer, and; iv) policy brief.
• A manuscript on the Global Swimways approach is in preparation for submission to a peer-reviewed journal.

You can read an interview with Will Darwall by Loeonard Schoenberger, about the Global Swimways project, in the magazine  ‘The Wading List’ here:

https://www.thewadinglist.com/conservation-focus-global-swimways/

Conservation Impact

1. Demonstrated that there are sufficient data to create informative visual outputs to display Global Swimways.
2. Stimulated widespread interest and support for developing a full-scale project to fully develop the Global Swimways concept.
3. Initiated discussions on the potential to create a globally approved Swimways Standard.
4. Raised awareness of the need to protect and restore freshwater fish migration routes. This will lead to greater cross-border collaborations, through publication of a Policy Brief and Declaration to be released close to WFMD (November 2020). The LPR on migratory fishes reached over 80 million people.
5. Increased the ability of the private sector to screen for presence of migratory freshwater fish upstream/downstream of project sites using the IBAT Freshwater Report. This should lead to reduced impact from development actions on freshwater Swimways and the species using them.
6. Prepared a manuscript for publication in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment to raise interest in the Global Swimways concept and criteria – hopefully helping support future funding bids for the full-scale project.
7. Identified the potential to incorporate freshwater Swimways in the CMS Atlas and connectivity fact sheet. We aim to joint fundraise with CMS for this work.

Outputs

This project has successfully demonstrated that sufficient data exist to map and display fish migration routes, known as Swimways, on broad geographic scales, with the potential for more detailed mapping for selected river basins.

Interest in conserving freshwater Swimways and addressing their threats has proved to be strong and global. This is exemplified through the attendance of more than 2,000 participants from across the world in the Swimways webinar.

CMS representatives have expressed interest in collaborating to further develop this work, in particular to: stimulate conservation actions for those migratory freshwater fish species currently on the CMS appendices; include in the appendices additional qualifying freshwater fish species; include freshwater Swimways in the CMS Atlas of animal migrations, and; represent freshwater fish migrations within the CMS connectivity factsheet.

Development of an agreed set of criteria for defining a Global Swimways, based on the criteria tested and presented through this project, has received widespread support and has been strongly recommended by some of those involved in earlier development of bird Flyways.

The potential to develop a full Global Standard for Swimways has received significant interest which will be advanced as a key outcome of this CCI project. This will include developing a funding proposal for a full-scale project to map all Global Swimways using a broader set of metrics and improved data. With the expected completion of the comprehensive assessment and mapping of all described freshwater fish for the IUCN Red List by the end of 2021 this objective is thought to be highly achievable.