3786 Views (as of 05/2023)
  1. Renato Silvano
  2. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Renato_Silvano
  3. Dr.
  4. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  5. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
  1. Mariana Clauzet
  2. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  3. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
  1. Gustavo Hallwass
  2. Dr.
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. Universidade Federal do Oeste do Para

Linking sustainability of small-scale fisheries, fishers’ knowledge, conserva...

AID-OAA-A-11

2019 (see original presentation & discussion)

Undergraduate, Adult learners, Informal / multi-age

This video summarizes research results of our PEER project funded by NAS/USAID (2015-2018), during which we made eight research expeditions to two rivers of the Brazilian Amazon (Tapajos and Negro, four trips to each river). The major goals of this project were to better understand small-scale fisheries and the interactions between fish and people. Here we describe two participatory methods that we used to work with fishers: mapping and participatory monitoring. During the research, we studied 16 communities (eight in each river). We mapped fishers’ knowledge about relevant sites for fish reproduction, fish migration and fishing, so we can deliver spatialized data in maps or satellite images. We implemented a participatory monitoring program on which some fishers voluntarily recorded their fish landings 5 days per month during 12 months, from July 2016 to June 2017 in Tapajos and from August 2016 to July 2017 in Negro. A total of 130 fishers from both rivers participated in this monitoring activity (73 in Tapajos and 57 in Negro), recording 3760 fish landings in total that were suitable for analyses. We also made a pilot study of fisheries monitoring through a mobile app using Open Data Kit (ODK) technology, in three communities during three months in the Tapajos River. The ODK method showed a good performance when compared to the other method (voluntary recording). During the last two trips, we organized meetings in all the studied communities to communicate some results to them, discuss the potential implications and talk about problems and solutions to local fisheries. We believe that the large amount of data we have can help fishers and managers alike to develop the best and more feasible management options, on a case-by-case, or community-by-community basis.

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Discussion from the 2019 STEM for All Video Showcase (15 posts)
  • Icon for: Brian Drayton

    Brian Drayton

    Researcher
    May 13, 2019 | 08:43 a.m.

    Thanks for posting this!

    I am curious if the research is providing answers to questions that the fishers themselves have?  Or are the participating fishers suggesting questions for you to add to your research program?

    The commericial fisherman in my area (along the New England coast) have a complicated relationship with researchers — trust-building is always going on. Community-based work seems to help a lot. 

     
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    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Sarah Haavind
  • Icon for: Mariana Clauzet

    Mariana Clauzet

    Co-Presenter
    May 13, 2019 | 09:38 a.m.

    The research starts from questions of the researchers, defined as fundamental to the management planning. But the fishermen demonstrate their demands throughout the research, which result in the adaptation of the field forms, and in new field trips. Trust between the researcher and the communities is also always being built, but in the Amazon environment the contact tends to be successful. thanks for your post.
    											

  • Icon for: Karen Mutch-Jones

    Karen Mutch-Jones

    Facilitator
    Senior Researcher
    May 13, 2019 | 04:06 p.m.

    You had a good number of fishermen participating, and it seems like many remained committed for the year--that is impressive!  Did you need to do anything in particular to encourage them to participate and/or to keep them involved during the entire study period?  

    I also wondered how the fishers responded to the data you shared with them.  Were they interested?  Did it resonate with them?  

    And lastly, have you started working with individual fishers on management based on the data?  

  • Icon for: Gustavo Hallwass

    Gustavo Hallwass

    Co-Presenter
    Dr.
    May 13, 2019 | 08:14 p.m.


    Fishers in the Amazon region are very participative in general, and we build a relationship of trust with them. Besides, we are working with small-scale fishers, traditionally ignored by researchers and government, so the fishers feel valued with the research.

    Yes, they are interested, because we ask permission before the research. We still not start working the data with fishers. We talked and sent the reports to protected areas managers. Thank you for your questions and interesting.

     
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    Haley Harville-York
  • Icon for: Mariana Clauzet

    Mariana Clauzet

    Co-Presenter
    May 14, 2019 | 10:16 a.m.

    Hi everyone, thats true, i agree with Gustavo. Also, in add, i think that the long time of research in the region certainly helps for the involvement of fishermen, who have been as part of the project for more than 4 years.
    											

  • Icon for: Renato Silvano

    Renato Silvano

    Lead Presenter
    Dr.
    May 20, 2019 | 09:08 a.m.

    Hi Karen,

       Thanks for your post and interest in our research. Yes, fishers were interested in the research and in the results. We showed the data to them in meetings and provided folders with some results to each studied community. We had good discussions about problems in fisheries and management options, but yet not started to do management with them, as we consider this being beyond our scope as researchers. However, we hope our research could stimulate and support management actions to be developed by the communities.

    Best,

    Renato

  • Icon for: Karen Mutch-Jones

    Karen Mutch-Jones

    Facilitator
    Senior Researcher
    May 14, 2019 | 01:46 p.m.

    Thank you both for your responses.  It's wonderful that you have developed such a deep and truly participatory relationship with the fishermen for several years.  That type of involvement can take a long time to build, but it yields accurate and important data, I'm sure.  It will be interesting to see how the data you collect informs managers and fishermen in the future.  

    Best wishes for you work!

  • Guy Lanza

    Researcher
    May 14, 2019 | 05:08 p.m.

    A very interesting video and useful project. Some years ago we learned a lot about basic fish habitats and ecology from local fishers in Thailand and Laos. They knew where to fish for desirable species.

  • Icon for: Gustavo Hallwass

    Gustavo Hallwass

    Co-Presenter
    Dr.
    May 14, 2019 | 09:27 p.m.

    Thank you for your comment. Yes, we have learned a lot with fishers communities, their knowledge has been useful to increase our scientific knowledge and to suggest management and conservation measures.

  • Icon for: Sarah Haavind

    Sarah Haavind

    Facilitator
    Senior Research Project Manager
    May 14, 2019 | 10:38 p.m.

    Thank you for sharing your work. What a wonderful project, and thanks to the funders who recognized the value of such research. I love especially the phrase you use in your description, "the interaction between fish and people" on the two rivers. Did the fishers talk about their perceptions of the fish and interactions other than how to catch them? Or is that pretty much the whole relationship? 

  • Icon for: Mariana Clauzet

    Mariana Clauzet

    Co-Presenter
    May 15, 2019 | 09:35 a.m.

    Hi, Thank you for your comment. In realy, in this research we address on the ecological aspects of this relationship, such as capture sites and fishing tecnichs, but it is true that the amazon fishermen too symbologies and taboos and a taxonomic knowledge about the local that they 

     
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    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Sarah Haavind
  • Icon for: Sarah Haavind

    Sarah Haavind

    Facilitator
    Senior Research Project Manager
    May 15, 2019 | 10:04 p.m.

    Mariana, very enticing partial note here - I'm thinking your Internet went off. Hope you can come back and tell us more! Thanks again for your terrific work and for sharing it in the Showcase. I can only imagine the challenges are many.

  • Icon for: Renato Silvano

    Renato Silvano

    Lead Presenter
    Dr.
    May 20, 2019 | 09:10 a.m.

    Hi Sarah,

       Thanks for your comment. Yes, besides fishing, we also investigate fishers' local knowledge about fish, including aspects such as reproduction, feeding, habitats, among others. We are still working on these results and should have outputs from that soon.

    Best,

     

  • Icon for: Daniel Morales-Doyle

    Daniel Morales-Doyle

    Facilitator
    Assistant Professor
    May 15, 2019 | 10:50 a.m.

    It is really great to see a project that uses participatory methods like this. It is also great to hear that you have built trust and it sounds like the project considers reciprocity. I’m wondering to what extent you have involved the fishers beyond data collection. For example, an earlier comment asked about questions that fishers have raised. I also think it would be valuable to involve fishers in data analysis and dissemination of results. Maybe you have done some of this? 

     
    1
    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Sarah Haavind
  • Icon for: Renato Silvano

    Renato Silvano

    Lead Presenter
    Dr.
    May 20, 2019 | 09:14 a.m.

    Hi Daniel,

       Thanks for that. We agree that it is important to involve fishers as much as possible in data collection, etc., but in this project we still have not done so, because our goal was to make a standardize study in many communities, thus being more difficult to consider and include all questions relevant to each community. Nevertheless, we consider and include fishers' perceptions and concerns about fish abundance, problems in fisheries, etc. We could not spend so much time in each community to be able to involve more them in the data analyses, etc. (after data collection), but may try to do that in selected communities in the near future, if we can raise funds to continue our research there.

    Best

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