Local ecological knowledge of fishermen in Rhode Island and the Dominican Republic : state of their fisheries, changes and adaptations

Abstract

There is a growing need to broaden our understanding of people’s knowledge and their fisheries and to consider new approaches that will lead to effective conservation that enables us to sustain fisheries and protect the environment. This study examines the use of fishers’ local ecological knowledge to characterize fishing communities and their practices, to assess the state of the fisheries, and the usefulness of this knowledge for conservation management. I studied the local ecological knowledge of lobster fishers for one of the main ports in Rhode Island, and for fishers across 10 communities in the Northeast coast of the Dominican Republic, using Grounded theory, Cultural Consensus Analysis, and standard statistical methods.