THE WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE: USING FISH AS A MANAGEMENT TOOL

Many countries, including Ireland, were ill-prepared for the requirements of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) regarding the use of fish as a biological element. Examination of archival data proved uninformative. Details of species composition, distribution and density were fragmented and non-standard. No monitoring programme or strategic stock assessment existed, and information of the type required by the WFD was not available. This paper describes the research undertaken in Ireland since 2000 to deliver standardised WFD survey methods and protocols with which to create essential WFD-compliant data on fish communities in rivers, lakes and transitional waters, Three research projects, one in each surface water category, are discussed, as are initial developments towards fish-classification schemes, surveillance monitoring, and participation and advances in the intercalibration process.