Michigan State University contributed these images to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
Freshwater fish are a delicacy, and a critical food source, the world over. And yet, from rivers in the United States to lakes in Africa, fisheries may be collapsing and data tracking the situation are woefully inaccurate. Now, nations are coming together to address the problem before it becomes a crisis. Read more about the issue in "Freshwater Fish are Disappearing: Where is the Global Response?" and see images from fisheries around the globe in the gallery that follows.
A rare sight
Fish team at the Sengsawang hatchery in Laos. (Credit: Beth Beard, Global Inland Fisheries Conference.)
Fishing at dusk
A man fishes from a boat on the Mekong River in Laos. (Credit: Beth Beard, Global Inland Fisheries Conference.)
Shopping
A woman makes a selection from a vendor of sweet fish in Ueno Park, Toyko. (Credit: Beth Beard, Global Inland Fisheries Conference.)
Collecting fish
Employees collect coho salmon at the Chiwawa River hatchery near Wenatchee, Wash. (Credit: Bonneville Power Authority.)
Net fishing
Fish caught by nets off dug-out boats in the tributaries off the Amazon River in Peru, near Iquitos. (Credit: Sue Nichols, Michigan State University.)
Freshest of fresh
Women in a market in Iquitos sort through fresh catch from the Amazon River. (Credit: Sue Nichols, Michigan State University.)
For sport
A charter boat heads out early on a fishing trip on Lake Michigan near Grand Haven. (Credit: Sue Nichols, Michigan State University.)
Fish farming
Fish farming on the Ngum River, a tributary of the Mekong River in Laos. (Credit: Beth Beard, Global Inland Fisheries Conference.)
Fly fishing
A woman settles a cast on the north branch of the Au Sable River in Lovells, Mich. (Credit: Sue Nichols, Michigan State University.)
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