Traditional Fishing Knowledge

This workshop centered around the fact 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 engaged with academia, fishers, NGOs, governmental agencies and others, as Fishers’ Ecological Knowledge (FEK) application is universal to different social sectors. From this basis, the workshop developed 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 promoted 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 goal of this workshop was 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.

Key Themes:

Livelihoods, Factors of Success in Community Conservation, Climate & Environmental Changes, Wildlife & Fisheries

Presenters:

Winston Cowie (Environment Agency Abu Dhabi)

Mohsin Al Ameri (Assistant Scientist, Fisheries. Environment Agency Abu Dhabi)

Shaelene Kamakaʻala (Community Based Fisheries Area Coordinator, Hawaii)

Christiana Louwa (El Molo Forum)

Kevin Chang (Executive Director, Kua’āina Ulu ‘Auamo, Hawaii)

Video & Presentations: