The use of GIS for the integration of traditional and scientific knowledge in supporting artisanal fisheries management in southern Brazil

The integration of local harvesters' knowledge of attitudes and practices toward the resources they harvest with scientific information is essential to natural resources management. However, the development and implementation of management policies have, in most cases, not been effective because of a failure to use all available sources of information and knowledge. In fisheries management, local knowledge is usually not collected in a systematic format and little published literature has discussed the use of local knowledge data collection and analysis methods. This paper describes the implementation of geographic information systems to systematize, analyze, and display traditional and scientific information to support fisheries management in the Patos Lagoon Estuary, southern Brazil. Artisanal fishing data were documented through a series of interviews conducted during and after fishing trips at harvest spots, and scientific data on environmental variables were obtained from different research institutions. A multi-layer GIS database integrating local fishers' and scientific knowledge information was developed with ArcGIS 8.3 ArcView tools to integrate and translate information into an accessible and interpretable format. The geo-spatial database interface allowed the selection of specific data characteristics by target species, harvest areas, fishers' communities, fishing gear, catch-per-unit of effort (CPUE), and monthly landings. The observed fishing spatial dynamics presented among the fishers' communities shows that, in most cases, artisanal fishermen tend to concentrate in shallow estuarine waters surrounding their villages.     

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

Studies investigating the local ecological knowledge (LEK) held by fishermen about the fishing resources have indicated that fishermen’s LEK may have the potential to improve fishery management, by providing new information about the ecology, behavior and abundance trends of fish and other aquatic animals. Our major aim is to undertake a brief review of published ethnoichthyological studies with a focus on coastal Brazilian fisheries and freshwater fisheries in both Brazil and Southeast Asia. Based on such review, we provide 29 hypotheses on fish ecology based on fishermen’s LEK and compare them with what is already known from the biological literature, using an arbitrary ‘likelihood’ measure: “Low likelihood” corresponded to unexpected hypotheses, which contradict existing biological data. “Medium likelihood” corresponded to hypotheses that could not be compared to available scientific knowledge. Hypotheses that agree with scientific data were considered as “High likelihood”. We therefore discuss these three categories of hypotheses about several distinct topics, such as migration, reproduction, feeding habits, abundance patterns, ecological relationships between fish and their predators, and fishing pressure. Our results may contribute to the fisheries management and research in the studied regions and other similar places, besides raising the interest of biologists to properly include fishermen’s LEK when planning and conducting fisheries surveys. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

The Key Role of the Barefoot Fisheries Advisors in the Co-managed TURF System of Galicia (NW Spain)

Many authors have pointed out the need for simpler assessment and management procedures for avoiding overexploitation in small-scale fisheries. Nevertheless, models for providing scientific advice for sustainable small-scale fisheries management have not yet been published. Here we present one model; the case of the Barefoot Fisheries Advisors (BFAs) in the Galician co-managed Territorial Users Rights for Fishing. Based on informal interviews, gray literature and our personal experience by being involved in this process, we have analyzed the historical development and evolution of roles of this novel and stimulating actor in small-scale fisheries management. The Galician BFA model allows the provision of good quality and organized fisheries data to facilitate and support decision-making processes. The BFAs also build robust social capital by acting as knowledge collectors and translators between fishers, managers, and scientists. The BFAs have become key actors in the small-scale fisheries management of Galicia and a case for learning lessons.     

Knowledge users’ perspectives and advice on how to improve knowledge exchange and mobilization in the case of a co-managed fishery

Environmental scientists have long been frustrated by the difficulties involved in transferring their research findings into policy-making, management, and public spheres. Despite increases in scientific knowledge about social-ecological systems, research has consistently shown that regulators and stakeholders draw on tacit, informal, and experiential knowledge far more than scientific knowledge in their decision-making. Social science research in the fields of knowledge exchange (KE) and knowledge mobilization (KMb) suggest that one of the major barriers to moving knowledge into practice is that scientists fail to align their communication strategies with the information-seeking behaviours and preferences of potential knowledge users. This article presents findings from in-depth qualitative research with government employees and stakeholders involved in co-managing Pacific salmon fisheries in Canada’s Fraser River. We investigate how members of these groups access, view, and use scientific information, finding both similarities and differences. Members of both groups express a strong interest in academic science, and self-report using scientific information regularly in their work and advocacy. However, the two groups engage in different information-seeking behaviours, and provide notably different advice to academic scientists about how to make research and communication more relevant to potential users. For example, government employees focus on the immediate applications of research to known problems, while stakeholders express greater concern for the political context and implications of scientific findings. We argue that scientists need to “go where the users are” in the behavioural and intellectual sense, and tailor their communications and engagement activities to match the habits, preferences, and expectations of multiple potential user groups. We conclude with recommendations on how this may be done.     

Constructing a policy and institutional framework for an ecosystem-based approach to managing the Lower Amazon floodplain

A regional experiment in co-management is underway in the Lower Amazon that is developing the basic policy and institutional elements for an ecosystem-based approach to floodplain management. This initiative grew out of the grassroots movement of floodplain communities who, concerned with excessive commercial fishing pressure on local fisheries, took control of local lakes and implemented collective agreements regulating fishing activity. This paper describes the main elements of the evolving regional management system. This process has focused on four main dimensions of floodplain settlement and resource use: development of sustainable management systems for floodplain resources, policies and institutions for fisheries co-management, collective agreements for grazing cattle on floodplain grasslands, and a land tenure policy consistent with the objectives of the evolving co-management system. Over the last year INCRA, the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform, has begun implementation of a comprehensive new land tenure policy that could resolve structural deficiencies in the existing co-management system and provide the basis for the ecosystem-based management of the Lower Amazon floodplain. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Is Biodiversity Friendly Fisheries Management Possible on Issyk-Kul Lake in the Kyrgyz Republic?

This paper aims to identify challenges, and threats, and further explore opportunities for a new Biodiversity Friendly Fisheries Management Regime on the Issyk-Kul Lake in the Kyrgyz Republic. This lake is the second largest high-altitude lake in the world providing recreational and small-scale fishing activities as well as cage culture of introduced species. The populations of several indigenous species are seriously threatened, because many of the introduced species are potential predators. We examine the root causes for overfishing and relationships of alien and endemic fish species in Issyk-Kul Lake and give possible policy options that can help remediate or mitigate the biodiversity degradation. This analysis focuses on necessary legal modifications, institutional cooperation, the protection of selected endemic fish species, control of the alien species, the sustainable extension services and management of fish ponds. Fisheries co-management is one option to explore shared stewardship and empowering user groups on the lake. A comprehensive fisheries management plan is also needed, in addition to immediate action and further studies on the following wider aspects: water management/irrigation issues, water-quality assessment near cage cultures, socio-cultural issues, resource inventory, and assessing fish biology and the lake ecosystem.     

The implications of ecosystem dynamics for fisheries management: a case study of selected fisheries in the Gulf of Paria, Trinidad

It is accepted that if fisheries resources are to remain renewable and able to sustain livelihoods, appropriate management practices must be implemented. Even while fisheries management grapples to resolve single-species issues, the biological and economic interactions among species mandate that to be effective, management techniques must be based on more interactive and aggregate-level analyses. In order to implement these techniques, the actual links, and the potential impact of these links, among the fisheries must be established. Vector autoregression (VAR) analysis has the potential to play an increasingly important role in ecosystem modelling for fisheries management. This study uses VAR analysis to demonstrate the quantitative impact of certain ecosystem changes on the productivity of the carite, honey shrimp and croaker fisheries of the Gulf of Paria, Trinidad, in the particular context of the ecosystem dynamics of trophic linkages, bycatch and multispecies fisheries. Four VAR models are constructed to investigate the extent to which these factors affect the production of the selected fisheries, and to evaluate the management implications of these linkages. The empirical analysis is further evidence that, if sustainable management of fishery resources is to be achieved, management practices based on more multi-species, ecosystem approaches must replace the traditional, single-species management techniques.     

Life Cycle Considerations for Improving Sustainability Assessments in Seafood Awareness Campaigns

It is widely accepted that improving the sustainability of seafood production requires efforts to reverse declines in global fisheries due to overfishing and to reduce the impacts to host ecosystems from fishing and aquaculture production technologies. Reflective of on-going dialogue amongst participants in an international research project applying Life Cycle Assessment to better understand and manage global salmon production systems, we argue here that such efforts must also address the wider range of biophysical, ecological, and socioeconomic impacts stemming from the material and energetic throughput associated with these industries. This is of particular relevance given the interconnectivity of global environmental change, ocean health, and the viability of seafood production in both fisheries and aquaculture. Although the growing popularity of numerous ecolabeling, certification, and consumer education programs may be making headway in influencing Western consumer perceptions of the relative sustainability of alternative seafood products, we also posit that the efficacy of these initiatives in furthering sustainability objectives is compromised by the use of incomplete criteria. An emerging body of Life Cycle Assessment research of fisheries and aquaculture provides valuable insights into the biophysical dimensions of environmental performance in alternative seafood production and consumption systems, and should be used to inform a more holistic approach to labeling, certifying, and educating for sustainability in seafood production. More research, however, must be undertaken to develop novel techniques for incorporating other critical dimensions, in particular, socioeconomic considerations, into our sustainability decision-making.     

Compliance with Canada’s Fisheries Act: A Field Audit of Habitat Compensation Projects

Loss of fish habitat in North America has occurred at an unprecedented rate through the last century. In response, the Canadian Parliament enacted the habitat provisions of the Fisheries Act. Under these provisions, a “harmful alteration, disruption, or destruction to fish habitat” (HADD) cannot occur unless authorised by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), with legally binding compensatory habitat to offset the HADD. The guiding principle to DFO’s conservation goal is “no net loss of the productive capacity of fish habitats” (NNL). However, performance in achieving NNL has never been evaluated on a national scale. We investigated 52 habitat compensation projects across Canada to determine compliance with physical, biological, and chemical requirements of Section 35(2) Fisheries Act authorisations. Biological requirements had the lowest compliance (58%) and chemical requirements the highest (100%). Compliance with biological requirements differed among habitat categories and was poorest (19% compliance) in riparian habitats. Approximately 86% of authorisations had larger HADD and/or smaller compensation areas than authorised. The largest noncompliance in terms of habitat area occurred in riverine habitat in which HADDs were, on average, 343% larger than initially authorised. In total, 67% of compensation projects resulted in net losses of habitat area, 2% resulted in no net loss, and 31% achieved a net gain in habitat area. Interestingly, probable violations of the Fisheries Act were prevalent at half of the projects. Analyses indicated that the frequency of probable Fisheries Act violations differed among provinces. Habitat compensation to achieve NNL, as currently implemented in Canada, is at best only slowing the rate of habitat loss. In all likelihood, increasing the amount of authorised compensatory habitat in the absence of institutional changes will not reverse this trend. Improvements in monitoring and enforcement are necessary to move towards achieving Canada’s conservation goals.     

A combined ecosystem and value chain modeling approach for evaluating societal cost and benefit of fishing

We describe a combined ecological and economic approach aimed at giving more equal emphasis to both disciplines, while being integrated so that design, analysis, data entry and storage, and result capabilities are developed with emphasis on deriving a user-friendly, easily accessible tool. We have thus developed the approach as an integrated module of the freely available Ecopath with Ecosim scientific software; the world's most widely applied ecological modeling tool. We link the trophic ecosystem model to a value-chain approach where we explicitly and in considerable detail keep track of the flow (amounts, revenue, and costs) of fish products from sea through to the end consumer. We also describe the social aspects of the fish production and trade, by evaluating employment and income diagnostics. This is done with emphasis on distribution income while accounting for social aspects of the fishing sector. From a management perspective, one of the interesting aspects of the approach we introduce here, is that it opens for direct evaluation of what impact management interventions, e.g., quota settings, effort regulation, or area closures, may have on the ecosystem, the economy and the social setting, as well as on food availability for the consumer.