Fishers’ knowledge on a large floodplain river in South America. Contributions for sustainable management of inland fisheries

Abstract

This study presents a comparison between fishers’ knowledge and fiscal records about the structure of inland fisheries in the Paraná River (Argentina). First of all, we characterized the fishing population according to the main demographic and economic indicators, identifying two different fishing areas: the northern and southern sections in the lower La Plata basin. Secondly, we carried out a comparative analysis of fiscal fishery records (from two commercial sets: 1930–1984 and 2011–2019) and local fishers’ knowledge on inland commercial fisheries (frequency of occurrence and abundance). Finally, we contrasted current fishing regulations (allowed meshes and boats, fishing prohibitions, exports) to fishers’ effective practices. The study area included 52 sites located along the floodplain of the middle and lower sections of the Paraná River, in the province of Santa Fe. Socioeconomic analyses identified two different groups of fishers throughout the river corridor. Results showed that fishers have detailed knowledge on nomenclature, ecology, reproductive strategy, habitat distribution, and usefulness of commercial fish species. By contrasting fishers’ knowledge with fiscal records, we found similar and complementary information about the changes in abundance and frequency of occurrence in fisheries. These results highlight the need of including local knowledge as an outstanding source of information for well-planned management of fishing programs and sustainable policies. Graphical abstract Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11160-022-09722-x.

Spatial dynamics of Amazonian commercial fisheries: an analysis of landscape composition and fish landings

“…Accessing fishing information with fishers in the years after the fisheries were carried out can be useful, especially when there is no systematic data collection, as is the case with freshwater fisheries in Brazil. Other studies conducted via interviews with fishers to obtain the amount of fish caught and the composition of the species, which fish are more valued, and how fish abundance and sizes vary over time have shown that this methodology is accurate (Silvano and Hallwass, 2020;Tregidgo et al, 2021;Rabuffetti et al, 2022).…”