Implementing the Western Gulf of Maine Area Closure: The Role and Perception of Fishers' Ecological Knowledge
The debate about the quality of fishers' ecological knowledge (FEK) and its value to fisheries management has long been present in the literature. This study sought to understand the role of FEK in a particular fisheries management decision in the U.S. and to evaluate the extent that different...
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Resilience Alliance
2012
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:1cac6f32d0ac45e1b24221c12ca601eb 2023-05-15T16:19:24+02:00 Implementing the Western Gulf of Maine Area Closure: The Role and Perception of Fishers' Ecological Knowledge Mateja Nenadovic Teresa Johnson James Wilson 2012-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-04431-170120 https://doaj.org/article/1cac6f32d0ac45e1b24221c12ca601eb EN eng Resilience Alliance http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol17/iss1/art20/ https://doaj.org/toc/1708-3087 1708-3087 doi:10.5751/ES-04431-170120 https://doaj.org/article/1cac6f32d0ac45e1b24221c12ca601eb Ecology and Society, Vol 17, Iss 1, p 20 (2012) area closure fisheries management fishers' ecological knowledge Gulf of Maine issues of scale Marine Protected Area (MPA) New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) social-ecological systems spatial scale Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Ecology QH540-549.5 article 2012 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-04431-170120 2022-12-31T07:51:03Z The debate about the quality of fishers' ecological knowledge (FEK) and its value to fisheries management has long been present in the literature. This study sought to understand the role of FEK in a particular fisheries management decision in the U.S. and to evaluate the extent that different stakeholder groups recognized and used FEK in fisheries policy creation. The 1998 implementation of the Western Gulf of Maine Area Closure (WGoMAC) was a management response to the rapid decline in the Gulf of Maine cod (Gadus morhua) stock. Using structured surveys and semistructured interviews, we collected information from major stakeholder groups that were active during the creation of the area closure: New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) members, Groundfish Advisory Panel members, Groundfish Plan Development Team members, and Maine groundfishers. Results indicated that 95% of respondents believed that fishers possess ecological knowledge that could be useful in the fishery management process. In the case of the WGoMAC creation, 62% of respondents indicated that FEK played a role in the decision, even though 85% recognized obstacles to the use of FEK in the management process. Interviews demonstrated that FEK was able to improve upon the spatial resolution of scientific data by identifying seasonal migration patterns of prespawning cod and behavioral differences between juvenile and adult cod. This information was a product of a peer-reviewed process among groundfishers and it was used to fine-tune the exact location of the closure. These findings suggest that there are ways to incorporate FEK into fishery management for the purposes of stock and habitat conservation. Additionally, the benefit of having ecological information that spans different spatial scales for fishery management was observed in this study. By combining the knowledge systems of fishers and fisheries scientists, managers were able to capture ecological information at a finer scale than the scale at which landings data are reported and ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Gadus morhua Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Ecology and Society 17 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
area closure fisheries management fishers' ecological knowledge Gulf of Maine issues of scale Marine Protected Area (MPA) New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) social-ecological systems spatial scale Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Ecology QH540-549.5 |
spellingShingle |
area closure fisheries management fishers' ecological knowledge Gulf of Maine issues of scale Marine Protected Area (MPA) New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) social-ecological systems spatial scale Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Ecology QH540-549.5 Mateja Nenadovic Teresa Johnson James Wilson Implementing the Western Gulf of Maine Area Closure: The Role and Perception of Fishers' Ecological Knowledge |
topic_facet |
area closure fisheries management fishers' ecological knowledge Gulf of Maine issues of scale Marine Protected Area (MPA) New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) social-ecological systems spatial scale Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Ecology QH540-549.5 |
description |
The debate about the quality of fishers' ecological knowledge (FEK) and its value to fisheries management has long been present in the literature. This study sought to understand the role of FEK in a particular fisheries management decision in the U.S. and to evaluate the extent that different stakeholder groups recognized and used FEK in fisheries policy creation. The 1998 implementation of the Western Gulf of Maine Area Closure (WGoMAC) was a management response to the rapid decline in the Gulf of Maine cod (Gadus morhua) stock. Using structured surveys and semistructured interviews, we collected information from major stakeholder groups that were active during the creation of the area closure: New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) members, Groundfish Advisory Panel members, Groundfish Plan Development Team members, and Maine groundfishers. Results indicated that 95% of respondents believed that fishers possess ecological knowledge that could be useful in the fishery management process. In the case of the WGoMAC creation, 62% of respondents indicated that FEK played a role in the decision, even though 85% recognized obstacles to the use of FEK in the management process. Interviews demonstrated that FEK was able to improve upon the spatial resolution of scientific data by identifying seasonal migration patterns of prespawning cod and behavioral differences between juvenile and adult cod. This information was a product of a peer-reviewed process among groundfishers and it was used to fine-tune the exact location of the closure. These findings suggest that there are ways to incorporate FEK into fishery management for the purposes of stock and habitat conservation. Additionally, the benefit of having ecological information that spans different spatial scales for fishery management was observed in this study. By combining the knowledge systems of fishers and fisheries scientists, managers were able to capture ecological information at a finer scale than the scale at which landings data are reported and ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mateja Nenadovic Teresa Johnson James Wilson |
author_facet |
Mateja Nenadovic Teresa Johnson James Wilson |
author_sort |
Mateja Nenadovic |
title |
Implementing the Western Gulf of Maine Area Closure: The Role and Perception of Fishers' Ecological Knowledge |
title_short |
Implementing the Western Gulf of Maine Area Closure: The Role and Perception of Fishers' Ecological Knowledge |
title_full |
Implementing the Western Gulf of Maine Area Closure: The Role and Perception of Fishers' Ecological Knowledge |
title_fullStr |
Implementing the Western Gulf of Maine Area Closure: The Role and Perception of Fishers' Ecological Knowledge |
title_full_unstemmed |
Implementing the Western Gulf of Maine Area Closure: The Role and Perception of Fishers' Ecological Knowledge |
title_sort |
implementing the western gulf of maine area closure: the role and perception of fishers' ecological knowledge |
publisher |
Resilience Alliance |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-04431-170120 https://doaj.org/article/1cac6f32d0ac45e1b24221c12ca601eb |
genre |
Gadus morhua |
genre_facet |
Gadus morhua |
op_source |
Ecology and Society, Vol 17, Iss 1, p 20 (2012) |
op_relation |
http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol17/iss1/art20/ https://doaj.org/toc/1708-3087 1708-3087 doi:10.5751/ES-04431-170120 https://doaj.org/article/1cac6f32d0ac45e1b24221c12ca601eb |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-04431-170120 |
container_title |
Ecology and Society |
container_volume |
17 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1766005793243529216 |