Knowledge brokerage: bridging the gap between empirical and scientific knowledge towards sustainable fisheries management

Understand social impacts in the exploitation of marine stocks can be a key requirement towards the sustainability of fishery systems. Approaches that capture ideas and values of those directly involved in the exploitation of... [ view full abstract ]

Understand social impacts in the exploitation of marine stocks can be a key requirement towards the sustainability of fishery systems. Approaches that capture ideas and values of those directly involved in the exploitation of fishery resources are often limited, usually focusing on scientific knowledge of traditional management practices. Moreover, local communities are seldom accounted for at the decision-making level. The INTERREG project “Connectivity among Mediterranean fishery stakeholders and scientists resolves connectivity of fishery populations” (ConFish) aims to integrate empirical knowledge from local communities and key stakeholders with scientific knowledge from genetics and biology through a bottom-up participatory approach aimed at increasing the efficiency of fisheries management. In the construction of such an approach the intrinsic cultural knowledge of local stakeholders is a crucial factor to increase the feeling of ownership of fishery systems. Our proposal is to present the participatory framework of ConFish to share lessons on positive actions for knowledge brokerage and on why engaging local communities is a step forward in transforming the way communities look at, create, and work towards established practices for sustainable change. We also intend to show how, through a continuous engagement of local communities, local capacities can be used, and increased, in order for them to be able to design and create solutions suitable to their reality.