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European colonization of the Great Lakes basin
during the past 200 years and attendant urban, industrial, and agricultural
development have caused remarkable changes in the lakes' flora and fauna
and associated habitats. Today, the lakes have aquatic communities that
are structurally and functionally volatile and that exhibit rapid changes
in species' number and abundance.
These stresses have been so profound that they have challenged and broadened
the thinking of fishery experts. Successful fish management of the Great
Lakes is now activity focused on the lakes as ecosystems. As a result,
effective management requires the coordination and integration of efforts
of many governmental agencies. Fishery-management decision makers now must
consider the potential effects on the whole system rather than only the
effects within jurisdictional boundaries.
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