FISHERIES MANAGEMENT IN LAKE KINNERET (ISRAEL)

ABSTRACT Lake Kinneret currently supplies 30–35 percent of Israel's water consumption and is also important as a commercial fishery. In recent years sewage and fish pond waste flow into the lake have been significantly reduced, but benefits from these changes are partially offset by lake fishery management procedures that have decreased water quality. The population of the native planktivorous cichlid Sarotherodon galilaeus is declining, and the stock biomass of the endemic zooplanktivorous bleak, Mirogrex terraesanctae, has increased. This increase, together with the introduction of exotic fish, has negatively affected water quality and interfered with the survival of S. galilaeus fingerlings, mainly during the summer–fall season. The summer phytoplankton populations are dominated by nanoplankton and are mostly controlled by grazing pressure from fish (S. galilaeus) and zooplankton. The most available food source for fish communities in the summer–fall season is zooplankton, which are fed upon intensivel...