Abstract
Studies on fishers’ ecological knowledge (FEK) and local ecological knowledge (LEK) have rarely been undertaken for practical application in a management context. Here, we describe a methodology to access FEK that was designed under an ecosystem-based fisheries management framework. The procedure was adapted from the Delphi technique, which seeks experts’ consensus, and focused on several spatial and temporal issues related to the small-scale fisheries of the northern coast of São Paulo, Brazil (particularly, in Ubatuba, between 23°20′ S and 23°35′ S). Experienced fishers, considered as experts, were selected during a pilot phase to participate in two sequential rounds of semi-structured interviews at 3 main landing sites and 12 coastal fishing communities. The issues addressed were: (1) spatial and seasonal occurrence of mature females and juveniles of the main commercial species, (2) fishing grounds and bycatch species for each type of fishing gear, and (3) fishers’ suggestions for local fisheries management (e.g. mesh and size of gillnets, closure seasons, gear restrictions by fishing area). It was possible to identify consensus rates on the spatial and temporal issues, as well as on fishers’ management suggestions. The former allowed the construction of maps representing fishing grounds and the local spatial distribution of different fishery stocks strata. We illustrate the output by focusing on five fishery stocks: the seabob-shrimp Xiphopenaeus kroyeri, the whitemouth croaker Micropogonias furnieri, the inshore squid Loligo spp, the white shrimp Litopenaeus schimitti and the blue runner Caranx crysos. Overall, the results provided new guidelines for future local fisheries management and conservation initiatives. The methodology proved to be useful for the definition of essential fish habitats (EFHs), suggesting their potential application in other locations.
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