A framework to assess resilience attributes based on local knowledge

Abstract

New coexistence scenarios have been imposed on fishermen in the Santos Estuarine System region, a coastal city located 75 km from the largest city in Latin America (São Paulo). Whether due to the expansion of port and industrial activities, or due to the environmental liabilities associated with other human activities, thousands of workers from fishing communities are compelled to seek new forms of subsistence in the face of the gradual reduction of their fishing territories. The objective of this investigation was to develop a methodological framework to assess, based on local knowledge, ecological and social attributes of resilience in socio-ecological systems of small-scale fisheries over the last decades. To experimentally test the application of the framework, pilot interviews with fishermen, master craftsman and local leaders of the Santos Estuarine System were carried out with questions on aspects concerning eleven attributes of resilience, for three different time periods (currently, 25 years ago, and 50 years ago). Scores were assigned to the responses according to the contribution of the aspect addressed to the resilience of small-scale fisheries in the face of the various disturbances suffered over the years. The attribute scores in each period were then compared in a multivariate manner and the results of this pilot evaluation showed a decrease in overall resilience in recent decades, according to the perceptions of interviewees. Ecological attributes showed a significant decrease in the same period associated with anthropic pressures with losses in the attributes diversity, modularity and variability. Social resilience attributes did not show significant variation, although there was an increase in the attributes recognition of slow variables, tight feedbacks and overlap in governance. Although the use of the framework proposed requires its application on a broader scale for the characterization of resilience of small-scale fishing communities, the present study demonstrated that the methodological framework is applicable and provides useful information on attributes of socio-ecological resilience based on local knowledge.