A coexistence of paradigms: understanding human-environmental relations of fishers involved in the bycatch of threatened marine species

GONZÁLEZ CARMAN, VICTORIA Y CARMAN, MARÍA

Conservation & Society

Wolters Kluwer - Medknow

Lugar: Bangalore; Año: 2018 vol. 16 p. 205 - 216

0972-4923

We study a fishing community and its relationship with non-human species, including threatened marine mammals and turtles incidentally captured by fishers. We focus on the interaction between this fishing community and a group of conservation experts that seek to protect these vulnerable species proposing the testing of alternative fishing gear. In the conservation practice of the experts, however, the worldview of the fishing community which includes their relationship with animal species and the links and negotiations established with other stakeholders is being disregarded. Through an interdisciplinary ethnographic research, we found that while fishers classify the animal species according to their ability to be exploited as a resource, they may also be willing to invent themselves as strategic conservationists by negotiating with conservation experts to protect some of these species. The coexistence of practices of strategic conservation and resource exploitation in this fishing community does not preclude the existence of an ?implicit communalism?, in which resource exploitation is rooted in a practice of daily intimacy with various species. A comprehensive reconstruction of local perspectives and practices is a first step towards a democratic exchange between local and expert knowledge in pursuit of biodiversity conservation.