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Proposed Boundary for the Moʻomomi, Moloka'i CBSFA by Hui Mālama o Moʻomomi and Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Aquatic Resources (April 2018).
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Small-scale fisheries provide food security, livelihoods and income to millions of people but their management still presents a challenge to managers and other stakeholders due to problems in gathering suitable information and its incorporation in fisheries policy. Fishers are a key source of knowledge for assessment of both extractive capacity and...
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... Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) is the place-based knowledge, practices and beliefs about the natural environment that are held among the local resource users, gained through their close and continuous observations and hands-on experience over their lifetime. In the past three decades, LEK survey has become an important source of data for conservation to complement traditional field surveys, as it has been proven to be a robust, rapid and cost-effective tool for monitoring, assessing and managing natural resources (Gilchrist et al. 2005;Anadón et al. 2009;Gray et al. 2017), which has also led to a growing recognition by mainstream conservation bodies such as IUCN (Cowie et al. 2020). ...
... Among those who shared their opinions on the need to protect the butterfly lizard, 56.3% expressed support for conservation (n = 18), 21.9% had a neutral view (n = 7) Table 1. Local (traditional) ecological knowledge about Reeves' butterfly lizard drawn from Qi'ao local communities, categorized based on Cowie et al. (2020). ...
Though widespread and categorized as least concern by the IUCN Red List, Reeves’s butterfly lizard (Leiolepis reevesii) is considered critically endangered in China. Up-to-date data are warranted to inform future assessments and conservation measures. Through local ecological knowledge surveys and corroborated by field surveys, we discovered an undocumented L. reevesii population on Qi’ao Island of Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, China. This discovery is the first record of the species in the Pearl River Delta since the early 2010s and represents the only remaining population from the vicinity of its type locality. It was reported to be very rare on the island now and has been extirpated from most of its previous range due to overharvesting, habitat loss and degradation. Our findings also raised concerns about the erosion of local ecological knowledge among local communities. Urgent conservation action and education campaigns are required to prevent further declines and raise awareness of this important and threatened population.
... Our systema-c review iden-fied that the most commonly used methods in local knowledge studies are well-established approaches within the social sciences, that have ooen been recommended within publica-ons (Hun-ngton, 2000) or manuals (Bunce et al., 2000;Cowie et al., 2020). However, in some cases these may not necessarily be the op-mal approaches, and as suggested by Davis and Ruddle (2010), research is s-ll needed to explore and develop different research designs or methods. ...
Social-ecological systems like fisheries provide food, livelihoods, and recreation. However, lack of data and its integration into governance hinders their conservation and management. Stakeholders possess site-specific knowledge crucial for confronting these challenges. There is increasing recognition that Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) is valuable, but structural differences between ILK and quantitative archetypes have stalled the assimilation of ILK into fisheries management, despite acknowledged bias and uncertainty in scientific methods. Conducting a systematic review of fisheries-associated ILK research (n = 397 articles), we examined how ILK is accessed, is applied, is distributed across space and species, and has evolved. We show that ILK has generated qualitative, semi-quantitative, and quantitative information for diverse taxa across 98 countries. Fisheries-associated ILK research mostly targets small-scale and artisanal fishers (70% of studies), and typically uses semi-structured interviews (60%). We revealed large variability in sample size (n = 4 – 7638), predicted by the approach employed, and the data generated (i.e., qualitative studies target smaller groups). Using thematic categorisation, we show that scientists are still exploring techniques, or ‘validating’ ILK through comparisons with quantitative scientific data (20%), and recording qualitative information of what fishers understand (40%). A few researchers are applying quantitative social science methods to derive trends in abundance, catch, and effort. Such approaches facilitate recognition of local insight in fisheries management, but fall short of accepting ILK as a valid complementary way of knowing about fisheries systems. This synthesis reveals that development and increased opportunities are needed to bridge ILK and quantitative scientific data.
... Establishing continuity is important, and despite many scientists themselves being on short-term project-based contracts, efforts should be made to establish long-term working relationships with industry. This would include having established mechanisms for feeding back results to industry (Cowie et al., 2020 ) and regularly communicating the progress of projects and upcoming work or issues that are facing the industry. Examples highlighted to achieve this included community peer review processes, where results are taken back to fishers for validation and to review the potential impacts results produced may have upon them (Liboiron et al., 2018 ). ...
The importance of the integration of fishers' experiential knowledge (FEXK) into marine science is increasingly recognized. However, current integration attempts often focus on quantitative observational datasets, missing the unique information acquired by fishers throughout their lifetimes. Despite the potential value of FEXK, best practices around its collection, use, and integration into science, management, and policy ha v e not been fully identified. To address such knowledge gaps, a dedicated session was organized at the 2022 ICES annual science conference, with the aim to build a greater understanding of how FEXK is collected and utilized. Based on presentations and resultant discussions, four best practices were identified: (i) Organize processes for mutual learning about different scientific methodologies. (ii) Acknowledge fishers as expert data providers. (iii) Set up transparent, circular processes with all stakeholders. (iv) Be aware of equity issues around data and fisher participation. These best practices, while being closely connected to ethical principles for participatory research, may just be a starting point in ensuring better integration of FEXK into science and management. However, these outputs should be seen as an important contribution to the ongoing debate about how best to achieve this, reflecting the views of many scientists currently working in this field.
... − The IUCN guidelines for gathering of fishers' knowledge for policy development and applied use (Cowie et al., 2020) support recognition and inclusion of "fishers' knowledge as an important data stream in resource management. The report includes details on the breadth of knowledge that can be gathered, how it can be gathered, and how this information can be applied to support sustainable fisheries policy and broader applications in society. ...
... Traditional knowledge has been viewed as integral to arrangements involving co-management conservation and resource use, particularly on a long-term basis (Hamilton et al., 2012;Heyman & Granados-Dieseldorff, 2012). Engagement of experienced fishers in governance, co-management and conservation planning can be a core building block of sustainable fishing (Cowie et al., 2020). Although application of fishers' knowledge has been largely consolidated in coastal and estuarine fisheries in Latin America (Fischer et al., 2015;Grant & Berkes, 2007;Leite & Gasalla, 2013), few examples exist for large river systems. ...
Small-scale fisheries exhibit diverse territorial conflicts with other users and productive activities coexistent in fluvial environments, which usually are difficult to handle by management agencies. The aim of this study is to identify and spatialize the conflicts which most affect small-scale artisanal fisheries on the Middle and Lower Paraná River, as well as to expand the fishing territory concept for large rivers through the development of a participatory mapping (PM) process along with artisanal fishers. PM was performed in different fishing communities of the Middle and Lower Paraná River. The information gathered was processed by the Quantum GIS software and local fishing maps were drawn up. Livestock represented the main conflictive factor in terms of limiting fishing activity. Shore use and occupancy were identified as one of the main sources of conflict for fishers, due to the reduction of mooring and landing areas that have been lost or allocated for other purposes. The ‘sustainable fishing territory’ was proposed as a new concept, based on integration of the fishing territory idea and the areas of ecological value, proposing such framework as an umbrella area for conservation purposes. Differences in attributes used for developing the fishing territories suggested that PM was effective in recognizing local characteristics on a small scale. Although PM remains still poorly explored for large floodplain rivers, it provides an opportunity to understand the complexity of fishing territories within a context of fisheries management and territorial planning. In this context, PM represents also an effective tool for dealing with conflicts between stakeholders who share the fluvial space through different productive and recreational activities.
Cooperative Fisheries Research (CFR) aims to incorporate different types of knowledge into fisheries science through the convergence of diverse perspectives, skills, and expertise. CFR can facilitate knowledge co-production and the salience, credibility, and legitimacy of science, yet it can be difficult to operationalize. In Maine’s American lobster fishery, where CFR is a hallmark of the fishery, pressure to implement conservation measures to protect North Atlantic right whales, one of the world’s most endangered large whale species, poses a major challenge for harvesters. Endeavoring to follow best practices associated with CFR, our research team set out to work with state management and fishing industry partners to evaluate the socioeconomic impacts of new whale conservation regulations on the fishery. We co-defined relevant and actionable research questions and designed a sampling approach that included multiple efforts to contact industry participants. Although the process we engaged in had some of the key ingredients for success, ultimately participation was too low to achieve our research aims. We use this paper to discuss our failure and draw on the theory of scalar politics from critical geography to reflect on challenges we encountered, including how the contentious socio-political backdrop within which the initiative transpired impacted our research.
Social‐ecological systems like fisheries provide food, livelihoods and recreation. However, lack of data and its integration into governance hinders their conservation and management. Stakeholders possess site‐specific knowledge crucial for confronting these challenges. There is increasing recognition that Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) is valuable, but structural differences between ILK and quantitative archetypes have stalled the assimilation of ILK into fisheries management, despite acknowledged bias and uncertainty in scientific methods. Conducting a systematic review of fisheries‐associated ILK research ( n = 397 articles), we examined how ILK is accessed, applied, distributed across space and species, and has evolved. We show that ILK has generated qualitative, semi‐quantitative and quantitative information for diverse taxa across 98 countries. Fisheries‐associated ILK research mostly targets small‐scale and artisanal fishers (70% of studies) and typically uses semi‐structured interviews (60%). We revealed large variability in sample size ( n = 4–7638), predicted by the approach employed and the data generated (i.e. qualitative studies target smaller groups). Using thematic categorisation, we show that scientists are still exploring techniques, or ‘validating’ ILK through comparisons with quantitative scientific data (20%), and recording qualitative information of what fishers understand (40%). A few researchers are applying quantitative social science methods to derive trends in abundance, catch and effort. Such approaches facilitate recognition of local insight in fisheries management but fall short of accepting ILK as a valid complementary way of knowing about fisheries systems. This synthesis reveals that development and increased opportunities are needed to bridge ILK and quantitative scientific data.
Artisanal fisheries usually receive less attention from decision-makers and researchers, and have less resources available for research and monitoring, hence they are usually catalogued as data limited fisheries. On the other hand, fishers as direct users make observations of the state of the resources they catch, and accumulate knowledge about their surroundings, that they use empirically for their decision-making about fisheries. In that sense, traditional ecological knowledge from fishers is a source of information that can be useful for research and fisheries management, specially for data limited fisheries. This work researched about how information from traditional ecological knowledge from fishers could complement other fisheries information. For this, 155 interviews with artisanal fishers from five fishing communities in northern Peru were conducted during 2019. Abundance indexes were reconstructed for these communities for cabrilla, cachema, jurel, atún and bonito, which had significatively reduced between 1960 and 2010. Likewise, a time series of the maximum catches per trip were reconstructed from fishers’ memory, which showed fish catches peaks in the past for merluza, atún, cachema and cabrilla, however for cachema these peaks were more recent. It is recommended that in future studies further research is undertaken about the units of fishing effort and their evolution over time to be able to have more precise trends on abundance. Finally, it is proposed that this approach can be replicated by others to collect information that could be useful for other research and to provide recommendations for fisheries management.
