The use of GIS for the integration of traditional and scientific knowledge in supporting artisanal fisheries management in southern Brazil
2009
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.
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