Social representations of bycatch in workers and employers of industrial fishing, Argentina

GÓNGORA MARÍA EVA ; SCHULZE MARÍA SOLEDAD

Cancún

Congreso; Latin American y Caribbean Fisheries Congress; 2023

American Fisheries Society

With the aim of knowing the different social representations that workers and employers of the industrial fishing activity about the problems of bycatch and discards, we worked with focus groups with the participation of fishing industry associations and fishing unions of the Argentine fishing industry. In this way, we were not only able to learn about their perspectives but also to outline some possible solutions. During this work, most of the participants identified current discarding practices as a problem that must be addressed in some way, it is a problem that mobilizes them to debate. The rest of the participants consider bycatch to be inherent to the fishing activity and do not identify it as a problem. Following that, neither discarding is identified as a problem, since it is a consequence of bycatch. In general, it was clear that this problem is in the mind of the different fishing industrial associations and fishing unions, generating discussions focused, among other things, on the image that fishing activity offers to society. Finally, working with focus groups revealed itself as an important space for discussion, allowing participation of the sectors involved in the fishing activity.