Title:
Habitat Suitability Criteria for Assessment of Instream Flow Needs for Fish
Habitat Suitability Criteria for Assessment of Instream Flow Needs for Fish
Files
Author(s)
Crance, Johnie H.
Advisor(s)
Editor(s)
Hatcher, Kathryn J.
Collections
Supplementary to
Permanent Link
Abstract
In the western portion of the United States,
competition for stream water has often been
fierce. Water resource management agencies in the southeastern United States, where water has been relatively abundant, are now being faced with similar competing demands for water, and with increasing pressures to develop and defend recommendations for protecting fish and invertebrates in streams. Streamflow depletion at any time can
result in severe long-term effects on fish populations (Peters, 1982).
The allocation of stream water to any of
numerous instream or offstream uses is tied to the issues of water quantity, quality, and timing, which center on two critical questions: (1) when and how much water of an acceptable quality should be left in a stream, and (2) what happens if flow regimes are changed? Answers to these questions will probably be complex, but reliable answers are needed to protect instream and offstream values. If instream flow interests expect to compete with offstream uses for limited
water supp1ies, they must be ab1e to establish reliable and defensible methods for determining instream flow needs and demonstrate the environmental consequences of altered flow regimes.
My objectives in this paper are: (a) to present an overview of the need, deve1opment, and use of stream habitat suitability criteria, and the use of these criteria for the assessment of instream flow needs; (b) to give a status report on the plan of the National Ecology Research
Center (NERC) for expansion of instream flow
research in the Southeast; and (c) to discuss the relevancy of the research to river corridor management.
Sponsor
Sponsored by U.S. Geological Survey, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the University of Georgia, Georgia State University, and Georgia Institute of Technology.
Date Issued
1989-05
Extent
Resource Type
Text
Resource Subtype
Proceedings