Abstract
BackgroundAcquiring fast and accurate information on ecological patterns of fishery resources is a basic first step for their management. However, some countries may lack the technical and/or the financial means to undergo traditional scientific samplings to get such information; therefore affordable and reliable alternatives need to be sought.MethodsWe compared two different approaches to identify occurrence patterns and catch for three main fish species caught with bottom-set gillnets used by artisanal fishers from northeast Brazil: (1) scientific on-board record data of small-scale fleet (n = 72 trips), and (2) interviews with small-scale fishers on Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) (n = 32 interviews). We correlated (Pearson correlations) the months cited by fishers (LEK) as belonging to the rainy or to the dry season with observed periods of higher and lower precipitation (SK). The presence of the three main fish species at different depths was compared between LEK and SK by Spearman correlations. Spearman correlations were also used to compare the depths of greatest abundance (with the highest Capture per Unit Effort - CPUE) of these species; the CPUEs were descendly ordered.ResultsBoth methods provided similar and complementary bathymetric patterns of species occurrence and catch. The largest catches occured in deeper areas, which also happened to be less intensively fished. The preference for fishing in shallower and less productive areas was mostly due to environmental factors, such as weaker currents and less drifting algae at such depths.ConclusionBoth on-board and interview methods were accurate and brought complementary information, even though fishers provided faster data when compared to scientific on-board observations. When time and funding are not limited, integrative approaches such as the one presented here are likely the best option to obtain information, otherwise fishers’ LEK could be a better choice for when a compromise between speed, reliability and cost needs to be reached.
Highlights
Acquiring fast and accurate information on ecological patterns of fishery resources is a basic first step for their management
Lane snapper was expected to be majorly abundant in the dry season, some fishers mentioned its occurrence in the rainy season as well (Fig. 4)
This study shows that the use of local ecological knowledge (LEK) approach can provide reliable information on fish seasonal and spatial patterns equivalent to conventional scientific methods in fisheries science
Summary
Acquiring fast and accurate information on ecological patterns of fishery resources is a basic first step for their management. The efficient management of fishery resources minimally involves the understanding of seasonality and species distribution [1, 2]. These factors are crucial to the dynamics of small and large-scale fishing, as they are known to influence the life cycle, abundance, biomass and species richness [3,4,5], and for determining spawning [6] and food aggregations [6, 7]. Fishers retain specific knowledge of fishing resources that could be crucial to support an ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) in developing tropical countries, because these are places where there are often poor or no data on the status of fish stocks at local or regional scales [16, 17]
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