Traditional Fishing Knowledge: Preserving our past. Protecting our future.

What does fishers’ ecological knowledge contribute to the management of marine and freshwater systems? Addressing past experiences and future perspectives with the goal of embedding traditional fishing knowledge in fish... [ view full abstract ]

What does fishers’ ecological knowledge contribute to the management of marine and freshwater systems? Addressing past experiences and future perspectives with the goal of embedding traditional fishing knowledge in fish conservation and resources management.

The workshop considers that fish conservation and resource sustainability are at a crossroads in the current century, and that it is therefore necessary to engage broad societal participation. The session is designed to involve academia, fishers, NGOs, governmental agencies and others, as Fishers’ Ecological Knowledge (FEK) application is universal to different social sectors. From this basis, the workshop will develop a cross-sectoral network of experts who can identify FEK related goals for the next IUCN strategy cycle and work together to build public and political awareness for these goals and to achieve them. Thus, the workshop will promote interactive participation and therefore represents an important opportunity to integrate experiences and knowledge from the marine and freshwater sectors and from a range of different partners.

The workshop aims to

a) contribute to promoting and consolidating international experiences that show successful examples on FEK application benefits for fish and fisheries conservation;

b) inspire people to follow successful examples where FEK has benefited fish resources conservation and management;

c) consider FEK as a challenge and an opportunity for contributing to developing better conservation practices; and

d) help embed FEK in fisheries conservation and resources management by initiating the development of “how to” guidelines and film.