Understanding the factors driving fish behaviour, physiology and survival is increasingly important during this period of unprecedented global change, given their implications for fisheries stability and ecosystem health. Habitat quality and quantity shape fish population dynamics and eco-evolutionary trajectories. However, quantifying the habitat needs of fish across all life stages (and of their predators and prey) is challenging, relying on diverse approaches such as field observations, laboratory experiments, genomics, chemical tracers, telemetry and modelling.

Successful integration of these data into management and policy requires open and constructive knowledge exchange between natural and social scientists, stakeholders, managers and policymakers, and new tools to analyze and visualize these complex datasets. Building this social-ecological connectivity is particularly important in dynamic boundary systems (e.g. estuaries) and for protecting species characterised by trans-boundary movements (e.g. between rivers and sea; across jurisdictional borders).

The themes of the 2023 FSBI Symposium at the University of Essex are broad and inclusive, covering fish biogeography, habitat management/restoration, social-ecological connectivity, food web dynamics and One Health. The topics all have clear links to UN Sustainable Development Goals (e.g. Climate Action, Life Below Water), and the critical roles and services that fish provide, and will attract a diverse, interdisciplinary and international forum.