Participatory monitoring of small-scale fisheries in Brazil and the Southern Cone: a literature review

A.C. ESTEVES DIAS; A. CINTI; C. SIMÃO SEIXAS

Edmonton

Conferencia; 15th Biennial Global Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons; 2015

University of Alberta

Participatory monitoring approaches for natural resources management are increasingly being proposed by researchers, NGOs and even some governments. On such proposals, different levels of participation and incorporation of local/traditional knowledge (hereon fishers´ knowledge) may be observed: from resource users simply collecting data for managers to the active inclusion of fishers´ knowledge in designing data collection and analyzing data through direct collaboration. Fishers´ knowledge relevant for natural resources management pertains to all the spheres of asocial-ecological system, including the environmental, operational (fishing practices and logistics), institutional,social and economic spheres, among others. In this sense, several sorts of fishers´ knowledge may be considered for monitoring: from fishers´ ecologicalknowledge about the target resources and the environment to logistics for fieldwork and social and cultural norms. Studies on participatory monitoring are emerging in Brazil and the Southern Cone - a geographic region encompassing Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. Some of these cases show encouraging results and have been gaining attention in small-scale fisheries management in recent years. In this paper, we review English, Portuguese and Spanish literature on the use of fishers´ knowledge in artisanal fisheries monitoring programs in Brazil and the Southern Cone. We explore what types of information is being monitored (e.g. resource abundance, catch and effort, socioeconomic indicators), what sources of knowledge are being used (local/traditional or scientific) and how (which stages of management they inform), the level of fisher participation in these monitoring programs and the institutional arrangements in which participation and fishers´ knowledge use occurs. Our review is primarily based on articles found on database platforms available on the internet (e.g. Web of Sciences, Scopus and Google Scholars). We explore Portuguese and Spanish literature due to its importance to local managers and users, and to incorporate literature rarely accessible to the international scientific community. We discuss achievements and challenges of participatory monitoring initiatives in small-scale fisheries management in the study region.