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1.

Redefining Experts

In an effort to save their dwindling resource base a group of fisher-folk and scientists may inadvertently be helping to redefine the meaning of ‘expert knowledge’. The Fishermen and Scientists Research Society was established as an ingenious answer to declining fish stocks in the North Atlantic. Why? It all comes down to the sea and getting to know it better. The feeling was that neither scientists nor fisher-folk understood fish as well as they thought – hence the great North Atlantic cod crash of 1992 and similarly dramatic declines in nine more of the world's 14 main food fisheries. Now, by pooling their respective expertise and communicating with each other through the Society, 103 fishermen and 21 scientists are gaining new insights into marine resources and a new respect for each other. The Society newsletter, Hook, Line and Thinker, allows fishermen and scientists to answer each other's questions in special 'Ask the Fisherman' or 'Ask the Scientist' columns. The questions can be called in on a special toll-free line. No longer the exclusive preserve of university-educated specialists, a wider net of knowledge is now considered crucial for spreading sustainability in fisheries and many other areas. There has been a virtual renaissance of interest in practical, indigenous and other traditional forms of knowledge. In forest management for example, indigenous expertise in plants and ecological cycles is proving to be a valuable complement to modern scientific analyses. The new approach is proving more cost-effective and robust than traditional research. In the Society, fisher-folk collect 'data' in places scientists only dream of, while scientists analyse the data better once it has been collected. Thanks to their innovative and practical approach to research, the Society has won contracts to conduct a string of studies charting spawning grounds for the Nova Scotia provincial government in Canada. Though the Society's success may seem obvious now it was anything but assured in the beginning. It is a testament to the members that even when government funding waned, their cooperation continued. Fortunately, the good news doesn't end there. Initiatives like these are showing that everyone is an expert in their own domain. [beyond ivory-tower expertise]

Word Watch co-management n. a broad term for the shared management of natural resources between government agencies and local communities, including joint research projects with groups like the Society.

In Depth Hook, Line and Thinker – the occasional newsletter of the Society, available free of charge by emailing Patricia King at: nstn1582@fox.nstn.ca or writing to the FSRS at PO Box 25125, Halifax, NS B3M 4H4 Canada Illustration:Brian Atkinson

REEF' Catches the Changing Tide of Marine Research
' A new marine station is being planned to help revolutionize information flows between coastal communities and scientists. Departing from traditional top-down approaches, a circumnavigating research vessel is being built by the Remedial Ecotoxicological Expeditions Fund (REEF) to promote the free flow of information on sustainable marine management. With the latest Internet and satellite links onboard, along with a data-base of useful initiatives, the REEF scientists hope to catalogue and share local community experiences worldwide. REEF is building a state-of-the-art research catamaran powered on solar energy, with support from the public and private sectors. To learn more, contact: Dr. Thomas Janossy at Tel.: (416)595-2023 email: janossy@followme.com

NOT HOT:

The International Policy Vacuum on Industrial 'Hoover' Fishing

If cooperation schemes with local communities occupy one side of the marine management experience, then large-scale fishing ventures occupy the other. Fueled by recent leaps in technological prowess, exploitative over-fishing appears to be outstripping the capacity of fish stocks to regenerate naturally, no matter how many sustainable schemes are launched locally. In the North Sea for instance, the sandeel and cod fisheries are on the edge of collapse thanks to modern technology and lax catch limits and an absence of international enforcement by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Off the South African coast too, pilchards and polar cod stocks have fallen by 94%. Governments need to act now to avert more tragedies of our watery commons.
Watch for the upcoming
Summit of the Sea
(September 2-14, 1997) in
St. John's, Newfoundland
Tel.: (709) 579-1997
Fax: (907) 579-2067
Email: david_finn@porthole.entnet.nf.ca


Virtual Ideas		 Info on a fisheries co-management project at the International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management (ICLARM)

Fisheries Resource Conservation Council - another partnership between scientific and fishing industry expertise