Inclusivity of Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Fisheries Management

Abstract

Indigenous Peoples have developed knowledge systems that foster respectful and reciprocal relations between human and other-than-human beings, supporting resilient ecosystems and societies. Despite the impacts of colonization, Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) endure in many parts of the world and there is growing recognition that IKS can strongly improve fisheries management. During the last five years, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), the federal institution responsible for managing Canada's fisheries, released policies and strategies intended to make fisheries management more inclusive of IKS. To measure progress in their implementation, we applied 13 semiquantitative indicators and qualitative analyses of IKS inclusivity to a sample of 88 public documents produced or co-produced by DFO to advise management decisions. Of these documents, ≈ 89% did not meaningfully include IKS in the research processes and outcomes that they reported, while 10% showed a range of limited IKS inclusion in scientific processes initiated and driven by DFO. In the latter cases, IKS appeared to be considered as an afterthought or in ways that served a pre-determined scientific methodology. Only one advice document balanced the complementary strengths of IKS and science. The indicators that we developed in a Canadian context can be used, with locally appropriate revisions, to gauge the extent to which state governments in other countries are inclusive of IKS in fisheries management, thereby identifying shortcomings in law, policy, and practice and informing mitigation measures. Strengthening the inclusivity of IKS would enable more holistic approaches to fisheries management and benefit global conservation.