Known but not called by name: recreational fishers’ ecological knowledge of freshwater plants in Hungary

Abstract

Background Documenting local ecological knowledge (LEK) has recently become a topic of considerable interest. LEK can contribute to various areas of ecology, including habitat management and conservation biology. It has been recently revealed that recreational fishers’ ecological knowledge (FEK) can also provide valuable information about different organisms and habitats, while recreational fishers’ ecological knowledge is understudied in many aspects and regions of the world. Methods We aimed to record Hungarian recreational FEK on plant species related to freshwater habitats. Our research was conducted in three regularly fished water bodies in Hungary, namely Lake Velence, Keleti Main Canal, and Lake Látóképi, where a total of 72 interviews were conducted with recreational anglers. During interviews, 24 plant species occurring at freshwater habitats with common or sporadic distribution were shown to anglers as single species or in congeneric pairs. Miscellaneous plant-related knowledge of anglers was also collected. Results Anglers identified a total of 16 plant species. They used 45 botanical or folk names. An angler knew the name of 4.6 plants on average and recognized 7.4 other species without naming it. According to our detailed analysis, anglers were able to name or at least recognize those plant species which are somehow related to fishing activities, are salient, and/or common. Moreover, anglers at Lake Velence recognized less plant species; however, they also had less years of fishing experience compared to anglers of the other two locations. Conclusion We found that recreational FEK exists even in the case of freshwater plants which are not the main focus of anglers. It is highly presumable that recreational fishers would be able to provide reliable ecologically related data for scientific research establishing future citizen science projects of nature conservation.

What you see isn’t always what you get: On how anglers’ fish stock perceptions are influenced by motivations, satisfaction and engagement

“…Additionally, the process of gathering FEK can promote angler engagement with fisheries management, which generates awareness of and action towards management issues (Danielsen et al, 2005). FEK can be used to assess fish-related parameters, such as abundance or diversity (Giovos et al, 2019;Sbragaglia et al, 2020;Veneroni and Fernandes, 2021), but it has also been used in the assessment of other ecological indicators like presence of aquatic vegetation (Löki et al, 2021), or marine pollution (Truchet et al, 2019). Moreover, qualitative accounts of FEK enrich traditional scientific data and improve local management by providing an insight into cultural influences on fishers' interpretations of environmental changes (Thornton and Scheer, 2012).…”

Plant blindness represents the loss of generational knowledge and cultural identity

“…The research that has been done looking at adult plant knowledge is sparse at best, and mainly focuses on specific citizen groups (Loki et al, 2021;Srinivasan et al, 2022;Turreira-Garcia et al, 2015), understanding how citizen science can monitor plant species (Crall et al, 2015;Marcenò et al, 2021), or phenology (Boho et al, 2020;Fuccillo et al, 2015;Kosmala et al, 2016). Looking to understand plant knowledge of indigenous groups, Turreira-Garcia et al ( 2015) presented information about a Mayan community in Guatemala, specifically individuals in the mountain communities who learned plant knowledge from relatives, and found they knew more plants and developed better plant recognition skills than individuals who acquired their knowledge in school or on their own.…”

“…Looking to understand plant knowledge of indigenous groups, Turreira-Garcia et al ( 2015) presented information about a Mayan community in Guatemala, specifically individuals in the mountain communities who learned plant knowledge from relatives, and found they knew more plants and developed better plant recognition skills than individuals who acquired their knowledge in school or on their own. Loki et al (2021) assessed fishermen in Hungary and asked if they recognized freshwater plants and what name they called them. Answers included both botanical (scientific) and folk (local) names for the plants, and researchers found fisherman had a greater accuracy naming and identifying common plants and those related to fishing (Loki et al, 2021).…”

“…Loki et al (2021) assessed fishermen in Hungary and asked if they recognized freshwater plants and what name they called them. Answers included both botanical (scientific) and folk (local) names for the plants, and researchers found fisherman had a greater accuracy naming and identifying common plants and those related to fishing (Loki et al, 2021). Most recently, Srinivasan et al (2022) surveyed healers from Indigenous communities in India.…”

Traditional Uses of Animals in the Himalayan Region of Azad Jammu and Kashmir

“…Many societies are rapidly losing their ethnopharmacological knowledge; so, documenting this knowledge before it is lost is increasingly important ( Alves and Rosa, 2007 ; Löki et al, 2021 ; Mandal and Rahaman, 2022 ). Likely because of the dominance of plants in traditional medicine systems, the use of animals and animal-derived products in traditional medicine has been under-documented.…”