Seeing Through Fishers’ Lenses

Insights from traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of the marineenvironment are difficult to integrate into conventional science knowledge (CSK)initiatives. Where TEK is integrated into CSK at all, it is usually either marginalizedor restricted to CSK modes of interpretation, hence limiting its potential contributionto the understanding of social-ecological systems. This study uses semi-directiveinterviews, direct observations, and structured open-ended questionnaires (n = 103) toexplore TEK of marine ecological changes occurring within the Mafia Island Marine Park,Tanzania, and factors contributing to these changes. It illuminates TEK insights thatcan be valuable in parallel with CSK to provide a more nuanced understanding ofecological changes. In some areas, fishers observed coral reef growth, increased fishabundance, and increased sea temperatures, whereas in others, they reported decreases insea level, coral cover, fish abundance, catch composition, catch quantities, and fishsize. They associated these changes with interrelated factors emanating fromenvironmental processes, conservation outcomes, marketing constraints, populationdynamics, and disappearance of cultural traditions. Utilizing TEK without restricting itto CSK modes of interpretation has the potential to improve CSK initiatives by promotingcomplementarity and mutual enrichment between the two kinds of knowledge, therebycontributing new insights that may enhance adaptive management and resilience insocial-ecological systems