Water development accompanying mankind development has turned rivers into endangered ecosystems. Improving the understanding of ecological responses to river management actions is a key issue for assuring sustainable water management. However, few studies have been published where ecological metrics have been quantified in response to various degrees of flow alteration.

European inland commercial fisheries exhibit a wide spectrum of fishing modes, and have experienced major changes over recent decades. A peculiar feature of inland fisheries is the deep dependence on resources usually owned by someone else than a fisher. Therefore institutions such as property rights regimes, have a profound influence on the prerequisites to carry out commercial inland fisheries.