Preface

This special issue for the Journal, Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management, is the result of a desire to recognize a truly unique person and distinguished fisheries and aquatic scientist, Dr. Henry Regier. The articles included in this special issue attempt to highlight Henry’s outstanding contributions to our understanding of Laurentian Great Lakes science and management, in addition to his compassionate mentoring to all people with an interest in improving the ecological health and state of these lakes and their fisheries. There are few individuals that have the intellectual and emotional capacity that Henry possesses. His abilities to integrate and synthesize information from a myriad of disciplines and his direct and respectful interactions with people from all walks of life, place Henry as a central node in our understanding of, and appreciation for, how the Great Lakes are ecologically structured and how they function. His innovative spirit lives on in his legacy, inspiring and fostering the development of novel approaches by scientists, managers, policy-makers, students and others to improve the ecological well-being of these lakes that, in turn, have provided a multitude of benefits to society at the local, regional, and global levels. Henry has always cared about being a community-oriented scientist. He believes it is everyone’s responsibility to care for the environment and, more importantly, to care for each other. This moral value system of involvement and personal commitment to all has been shaped by experiences throughout his life. He spent his early years on a pioneer’s homestead in the Pearce River Valley in Alberta, Canada. 13 years later, he moved to the Lake Ontario shoreline. There, he observed the demise of the fisheries: countless dead Alewives washing up on shore, waters that were polluted with the polio virus (i.e. contained in untreated, discarded human waste), rivers that often caught on fire due to pollution from local industries, foul smells wafting from the lake due to poor sanitation, and land use practices leading to eutrophication. Fearing the imminent demise of this magnificent lake and its biota, along with almost all other waterbodies at this time, Henry dedicated his life to improving the health and status of Great Lakes and fisheries throughout the world. He did this, primarily, in order to reverse the negative impacts of despoiled waterways on local communities that depend on these resources for food and economic well-being. Renowned in the professional fisheries community, Henry has transformed the approach many scientists use to view and think critically about fisheries resource ecology, management, policy, and governance; this approach is highly integrative, interdisciplinary, and used most successfully in a coupled human and natural resource (CHANS) context! Thus, Dr. Robin Welcomme, a previous Head of Inland Fisheries Resources and Aquaculture Service of the United Nations (FAO), said this of Dr. Henry Regier: