Lessons Learned from Reconstructing Interactions Between Local Ecological Knowledge, Fisheries Science, and Fisheries Management in the Commercial Fisheries of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

We analyzed fishermen's local ecological knowledge (LEK) about the feeding habits, trophic interactions, habitats, fishing grounds, migration, and reproduction of nine coastal fishes in Búzios Island, southeastern Brazilian coast. We interviewed 39 fishermen using standardized questionnaires. Fishermen's LEK on habitat use and trophic interactions for the studied fishes agreed with the scientific literature, allowing the organization of reef and pelagic food webs. The interviewed fishermen mentioned that submerged rock formations would be important habitats for some large commercial fishes, such as Seriola spp., Caranx latus and Epinephelus marginatus. In some instances there was no scientific data to be compared with fishermen's LEK, and thus this kind of knowledge would be the only available source of information, such as for reproduction and migration of most of the studied fishes. We suggest herein ways to apply fishermen's LEK to develop and improve fisheries management measures, such as zoning of marine space, marine protected areas, and closed fishing seasons. Fishermen's LEK may be an important and feasible support to fisheries management and co-management.

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Local ecological knowledge and practical fisheries management in the tropics: A policy brief

Marine Policy ◽

10.1016/j.marpol.2006.02.004 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 30 (6) ◽

pp. 794-801 ◽

Cited By ~ 62

Author(s):

Douglas Clyde Wilson ◽

Jesper Raakjær ◽

Poul Degnbol

Keyword(s):

Fisheries Management ◽

Local Ecological Knowledge ◽

Ecological Knowledge ◽

The Tropics

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The quest for fisheries governance

Elem Sci Anth ◽

10.1525/elementa.2020.00115 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Hans Ellefsen ◽

Daniel W. Bromley

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Fisheries Management ◽

Demographic Transition ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Commercial Fisheries ◽

Faroe Islands ◽

Fisheries Governance ◽

Adaptive Process ◽

The Core ◽

Fisheries Policy

We document the 40-year quest for coherent fisheries governance in the Faroe Islands. The centrality of commercial fisheries to the Faroese economy means that getting fisheries policy right is at the core of social and economic coherence in this small close-knit nation. But the lessons learned here have pertinence to all commercial fisheries. The primary lesson is that fisheries management is a conceit—a chimera. Fisheries policy is about stewardship and the continual balancing of contending visions regarding the purpose of a nation’s fisheries. Policy is inherently contentious over long periods because the polity is always undergoing demographic transition. Most importantly, policy is difficult because participants are never sure what they want until they learn about what is possible for them to have. Compounding this problem is the realization that the participants are themselves changed by a process that John Dewey identified as “trying and undergoing.” Humans adopt policies (trying) and then are themselves changed by the playing out of the implications of those policies (undergoing). All public policy is a continual saga of trying and undergoing—which leads to a new and adapted trying. This adaptive process is not management but governance.

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Beyond fishermen’s tales: contributions of fishers’ local ecological knowledge to fish ecology and fisheries management

Environment Development and Sustainability ◽

10.1007/s10668-008-9149-0 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 10 (5) ◽

pp. 657-675 ◽

Cited By ~ 112

Author(s):

Renato A. M. Silvano ◽

John Valbo-Jørgensen

Keyword(s):

Fisheries Management ◽

Local Ecological Knowledge ◽

Fish Ecology ◽

Ecological Knowledge

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Indicators as a means of communicating knowledge

ICES Journal of Marine Science ◽

10.1016/j.icesjms.2004.12.007 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 62 (3) ◽

pp. 606-611 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

Poul Degnbol

Keyword(s):

Fisheries Management ◽

Local Ecological Knowledge ◽

Ecosystem Approach ◽

Decision Making Process ◽

Ecological Knowledge ◽

Translation Process ◽

Ecosystem Indicators ◽

Per Se ◽

Management Institutions ◽

Shared Understandings

Abstract Indicators represent the link between objectives and action in management. The identification of ecosystem indicators must therefore be embedded in the decision-making process. Fisheries management can only be effective if the measures are considered legitimate by stakeholders. The choice of indicators to guide management should not be evaluated from a technical perspective alone, but also in relation to their effectiveness in communicating knowledge. More specifically, indicators should serve as a communication bridge between different knowledge discourses. Reference is often made to “local ecological knowledge” as a source that should be integrated in the process for management to be legitimate. However, while extensive studies have been made on local ecological knowledge per se, few have addressed the issue of its integration into co-management institutions with research-based knowledge. The challenge is consequently to identify indicators that have both research-based validity and reflect features that correspond to stakeholder knowledge, while relating to shared understandings of objectives and actions. This challenge is discussed from a developing-countries perspective. Problems and possible ways forward are illustrated on the basis of experiences from a range of case studies of knowledge discourses regarding living aquatic resources in southeast Asia and southern Africa. The studies have shown that the different knowledge discourses, and candidate indicators therein, relating to a specific ecosystem may be identified and characterized. Often, however, such indicators will have very little in common across knowledge discourses, and the differences cannot be overcome through a simple translation process. The perspectives of formal research-based knowledge and of fishers differ systemically, reflecting the different interests and scales of observation between the two parties. Also, fishers focus on a wider agenda than research alone, on allocation problems and conflicts among users. Allocation/access issues must therefore be addressed as an integral aspect of an ecosystem approach if management is to be effective.

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