Recommendations from the SAFR Symposium

Abstract

Participants in the Social Assessment of Fisheries Resources Symposium recommended several steps to increase the use of social sciences in Great Lakes fishery resource management. They urgently recommended greater use of existing social science research methods and findings in fishery management. They also recommended multidisciplinary research on total value assessment as a means of integrating contributions of social sciences in evaluating human dimensions of fishery resource management. By consensus, they recommended three short-term activities: (1) integrative case studies in which social scientists and Great Lakes fishery managers jointly evaluate and manage important current or emerging issues to help improve science methods, to solve real problems, and to demonstrate research and problem-solving methods; (2) science transfer projects that would help managers learn to better use social sciences; and (3) a “field guide” to social science methods that would help managers become familiar with the various methods. They also recommended by consensus (1) that politicians and resource managers be better educated about social science concepts, (2) that communication be improved between social scientists and others, and (3) that social scientists be integrated into management agencies. Other recommendations involved social science development and interpretation.