Learning ecosystem complexity: a study on small-scale fishers’ ecological knowledge generation

Abstract

Small-scale fisheries are learning contexts of importance for generating, transferring and updating ecological knowledge of natural environments through everyday work practices. The rich knowledge fishers have of local ecosystems is the result of the intimate relationship fishing communities have had with their natural environments across generations. Previous research on fishers’ ecological knowledge has mainly been descriptive, i.e. has focused on aspects such as reproduction, nutrition and spatial-temporal distribution and population dynamics, from a traditional view of knowledge that only recognises scientific knowledge as the true knowledge. By doing this, fishers’ ecological knowledge has been investigated separately from the learning contexts in which it is generated, ignoring the influence of social, cultural and historical aspects that characterise fishing communities, and the complex relationships between fishers and the natural environments they live and work in.

Keywords:

• Informal learning
• small-scale fishers
• ecological knowledge
• work practices
• emotional bonds to place