This special issue is dedicated to the renowned scholar and Order of Canada laureate Henry Regier and titled: “History of the Great Lakes fishes, fisheries and governance: Dr. Henry Regier’s legacy”. The concept of this special issue emerged in early 2017 when I invited Henry Regier to submit a perspective article for AEHM on one of his favourite topics, the history of fisheries, to which he frequently alluded in communications. He responded enthusiastically and in due course submitted an extensive article in three parts consisting of the following time periods: before 1920; 1920 to 1968; and 1968 to 1993. He advised me to draft other knowledgeable and experienced fisheries scientists to cover the period from 1993 to the present. Dr. William Taylor of Michigan State University was recommended and accepted my invitation to undertake this task. When I reviewed Henry’s extensive article, I thought it would be beneficial to expand the history initiative into a peer-reviewed book under Ecovision series by the AEHMS, providing more space than available in a journal issue. An editorial committee comprised of Drs. Nick Mandrak, William Taylor and Ken Minns was established to guide the direction of the book. The committee decided to invite other Great Lakes fisheries experts from both Canada and the United States, as per the recommendations of Dr. Regier, to submit papers on various aspects of the Great Lakes fisheries. The initial response was encouraging. However, the submissions process dragged until the fall of 2017 at which point Nick Mandrak suggested promoting the project by organizing a special symposium at the 2018 IAGLR conference in Toronto (). It was hoped that the IAGLR symposium would widen the scope and attract more articles. The symposium received an overwhelming response; ten presentations were received from both young and senior scientists, in addition to an overview by Henry. Encouraged by the response, the editorial committee () decided to make the AEHMS-IAGLR symposium a celebration of Henry Regier’s legacy of contributions to fisheries science and its governance. The committee also realized that the length and extent of the papers were more ideal for a special issue of AEHM which would include a condensed and integrated keynote article from Henry Regier with coverage of his three suggested time periods, followed by more recent coverage by Bill Taylor.
Figure 1. Members of the editorial committee with Dr. Henry Regier at the 2018 IAGLR conference in Toronto, Canada. From left to right: N.E. Mandrak, W. Taylor, H. Regier, and M. Munawar.
At long last, we are pleased to present this account of Great Lakes fisheries history consisting of 10 articles which have been divided into the following two sections:
Fisheries history: Past, present and future
(Regier; Knuth; Gorman; George; Morrison; Dymond et al.; Allen and Mandrak)
Fisheries management and governance
(Guthrie et al.; Carlson et al.; Taylor et al.)
We hope this collection of articles will take fish biologists down memory lane and expose the younger generation to the history of fish and fisheries in the Great Lakes. We also hope this unique collection will be a wonderful recognition of the legacy of Henry Regier’s life time achievements as he has been one of the great “gurus” of fisheries biology, dynamics and management.
We would like to sincerely thank all contributors, referees, and members of the editorial and technical committees who have worked diligently for the production of this unique special issue. We greatly appreciate the contribution of a Foreword by Dr. Dave Dempsey, FLOW, For love of Water, Michigan and Preface by Drs. William Taylor and Molly Good from Michigan State University. Thanks are also due to Gavin Christie, Division Manger, Fisheries & Oceans Canada for his advice, as well as to George Arhonditsis and Mathew Wells for their assistance in organizing the special symposium on the history of the Great Lakes fisheries during the 2018 IAGLR conference at the University of Toronto.
Mohiuddin Munawar, Chief editor
Fisheries & Oceans Canada, Burlington
President, Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management (AEHMS), Canada
Editorial committee
William Taylor, Michigan State University, Michigan
Nick Mandrak, University of Toronto, Ontario
Ken Minns, Scientist Emeritus, Fisheries & Oceans Canada
Technical Committee
Susan Blunt
Jennifer Lorimer
Molly Good
Margaret Holmes