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- Alida
Bundy
- Postdoctoral
Fellow
- Department of
Fisheries and Oceans
- Halifax, Nova
Scotia
Issues Position Paper for
Social Research and Ecological Knowledge Systems: Exploring
Research Design and Methodological Approaches that Define
and Reconcile Contending Perspectives.
Ecology has its roots in the Greek
"oikos" meaning house, and "logy", meaning the
study of, or science of. So, ecology is the study of the
earth's households. I begin this "thought piece" on
ecological knowledge systems with some simple definitions of
ecology and ecosystems from the knowledge system to which I
belong, science. I leave it to representatives from the
other knowledge systems to provide their own definitions.
What is ecology? In more
modern terms, ecology is the study of the biological
community and the environment. This includes the study of
food webs, predator/prey interactions, energy flows, such as
the flow of nutrients or carbon, inter and intra species
interactions and environmental interactions.
What is an ecosystem? An
ecosystem consists of the living community and the
surrounding environment. An ecosystem can be many different
scales, and can change over time and space. Aquatic
ecosystem boundaries may be defined physically, such as by
the shoreline, the shelf edge, deep channels, banks and
holes. Marine ecosystems encompass the range of organisms to
be found in environment, from microorganisms such as
bacteria in the detritus, to benthic flora and fauna and
demersal fish, and to the pelagic realm, including marine
mammals. However, unless an ecosystem is clearly physically
bounded, it is not an easy concept to delineate in space,
since these different components of the ecosystem have
different spatial distributions. For example, in the marine
context, whales may place an important seasonal role in an
ecosystem, yet their natural range, including breeding
grounds may extend over a much larger area than the
ecosystem of interest. Equally, pelagic fish such as
mackerel and tuna have extensive ranges, but play important
seasonal roles in different ecosystems. On the other hand,
sedentary species such as scallops have a range which may
well be smaller than the defined ecosystem. Generally
speaking, the spatial range of species increases from the
benthic to the pelagic realm. When discussing ecosystems in
the fisheries context, the definition and bounding of that
ecosystem are an important first step in understanding the
ecosystem.
What is ecological
knowledge? Ecological knowledge is the understanding of
ecosystem structure and function, that is, understanding the
way that the ecosystem works. This understanding can be
gained from a theoretical perspective and through
observation and experimentation. Ecosystems may be
understood in different ways, depending on the theoretical
perspective. Within ecology there are different
interpretations of structure, function, and how energy flows
through the food web. Other knowledge systems will also
bring their own interpretations.
The importance of ecological
knowledge in a fisheries context: Ecosystems comprise a
complex web of interactions. Perturbation of one part of
this web, for example, the removal of cod by fishing, will
have an impact on the rest of the interconnected web. How
strong this impact is, and exactly how it is transmitted and
where it is manifested is not known. Nor is the complete set
of pathways consequent to perturbation. Impacts may also be
mediated by the environment. However, despite this lack of
knowledge, fishing does not take place in isolation and its
impact on the ecosystem, including effects through species
interactions must be explored and considered. Models based
on theory have been constructed for this purpose. Whilst
models necessarily simplify the system being studied, they
can give useful insight into ecosystem structure and
dynamics, and broaden ecological knowledge.
There is a pure and an applied
dimension to ecosystem knowledge. In the applied sense, it
is critical to resource management that the impacts of
fishing on the ecosystem be understood. In a pure sense, the
sheer complexity in the structure and function of ecosystems
is fascinating. There has been considerably more research
conducted in the fields of terrestrial ecology and
freshwater ecology. Marine ecology, especially in relation
to fishing, lags far behind. However, there is much that can
be learned and used from other ecological
systems.
To date in fisheries, ecological
knowledge, through multispecies approaches to assessment and
management, has been sparsely used. There are many reasons
for this, but they can be narrowed down to three basic
problems: the lack of appropriate methodology; the lack of
ecological data/information; and the lack of foresight into
the use of ecological knowledge in management. The latter
can be extended to a lack of willingness to invest time and
resources into finding means to used ecological
knowledge.
In order to understand the effects
of fishing on the ecosystem, and to make predictions about
the effect of fishing in a multispecies context, it is
necessary to develop models. There are several different
approaches to ecosystem/multispecies modeling, which range
from two species interaction models, to aggregate biomass
models, to fully age-structured multispecies models.
However, the first two methods are generally considered to
be unrepresentative of dynamics within ecosystems, and the
latter require detailed data inputs, which for most
fisheries are not available. Even in the few large,
age-structured multispecies models that exist, such as for
the North Sea and the Barents Sea, the lower trophic levels
are not explicitly modeled: it is assumed that there is
sufficient production at the lower trophic levels to support
the production of fish at higher trophic levels. New
approaches to ecosystem modeling in the fisheries are being
developed. However, the problem of data inputs still
remains. To date, in Canada, there has been little emphasis
with the Government realm to develop multispecies
methods.
In order to construct working
models of ecosystems, it is necessary to have information
about each of the species that are included in the model. At
the most basic level, this will include estimates of
biomass. For many species, such as the hundreds of
non-commercial species that co-exist with the targeted
fished species, there are no biomass estimates available.
However, data requirements go far beyond the need for
biomass estimates. In order to know how species interact
with one another, it is necessary to understand species
behavior such as distribution, seasonality, diet (with
spatial and seasonal components), prey selectivity and prey
switching behavior. For many species in most, if not all
marine ecosystems, this data is very sparse. Since this type
of data is not been necessary for conventional single
species fisheries methods, such detailed behavior is often
not even known for important commercial species
The political will to approach
fisheries from a multispecies/ecosystem perspective is
changing. This change has been propagated largely by
catastrophic fisheries collapses both in Eastern Canada and
globally. References are made to ecological considerations
in Canadian fisheries policy: however, much of this appears
to have been mere lipservice.
Change is forthcoming however, and
that change is a result of action by scientists, fishermen
and members of the public. The common belief, that fisheries
must be managed within an ecological framework, has begun to
bring these groups together. It is now being recognized
that, given the huge gaps in "formal knowledge", we have to
look to other forms of knowledge to complement the
scientific approach. One form of other knowledge has become
known as "Traditional Ecological Knowledge" or TEK. TEK is
knowledge that has been gained through tradition, informal
observation and experience. It is associated with
small-scale fishermen who have spent many years on the
water, fishing and observing at close hand. Commonly fishing
has been a family occupation for generations.
Given the failings of science, and
the current political structure of fisheries management,
alternative approaches to fisheries methods and management
must be explored. There is a huge potential source of
knowledge that resides within fishing communities. The
challenge is to find ways that scientists and fishermen can
work together.
As soon as a scientist begins to
talk in this way, she is open to criticism for trying to
slot other forms of knowledge into the scientific model,
with little or no understanding of the value of that
knowledge in its own right. This may well be true. For
example, scientific EK relies on quantitative data from
experimentation, whereas TEK provides qualitative data,
usually of anecdotal nature, which scientists find difficult
to incorporate into their methodology. However, in order for
TEK and scientific EK to be integrated, there has to be an
attempt to understand each other's perspective and context.
Constructive ways to use both forms of knowledge to further
our common knowledge and shared goals must be found. There
does not have to be one single approach: a robust integrated
ecological fisheries plan would be use more than one
approach, perhaps complementary approaches, where results
can be compared and contrasted, and thus our quality and
quantity of knowledge increased.
There are already some frameworks
within which an integrated ecological fisheries approach
could be developed. Community-based management provides an
ideal context whereby fishermen are already involved in the
management of their resource and have a large investment in
maintaining that resource. There may be a system of
cooperation and transfer of information developed with
scientists, and thus a basis from which to build an
understanding of the different ecological knowledge
systems.
An empirical framework is another
framework within which scientists and fishermen can work
together to develop an integrated ecological approach.
Scientific and fishermen's understandings of the ecosystem
and the effect of fishing are used together. Then, through
experimentation, such as closing some areas for x years, or
fishing Area A twice as hard as Area B, theories about how
the ecosystem works can be tested. Experimentation requires
complete agreement and understanding between fishermen and
scientists. There is an element of risk associated with this
approach, and in some cases, it may be decided that the
extra knowledge to be gained from experimentation is not
worth the risk if the theory turns out to be incorrect.
However, experimentation can be a powerful method to combine
scientific and fishermen's knowledge and to increase
both.
From a scientist's perspective,
including the knowledge that we know far less about
ecosystems that we need in order to manage fisheries, there
can only be gain from trying to develop ways to work with
other forms of knowledge. There are several challenges that
must be met however: the development of methods that include
both forms of knowledge; the development of good working
relations between fishermen and scientists, which include
mutual respect, and the development of ways to translate
results into fisheries management.
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