Stakeholder Collaboration in Fisheries Research: Integrating Knowledge Among Fishing Leaders and Science Partners in Northern New England

Abstract

Cooperative research in fisheries science and management is increasing throughout the United States, in part because of the increasing trust and credibility divide between fishermen and scientists. For example, the Northeast Consortium was established to, among other goals, help bring fishermen's information, experience, and expertise into the scientific framework needed for fisheries management. This research begins to examine whether cooperative research integrates fishermen's and scientists' knowledge, particularly among highly engaged industry leaders and their science partners. Findings are presented from three surveys-individuals engaged in commercial fishing in northern New England (n ¼ 295), and fishermen (n ¼ 60), and scientists (n ¼ 37) participating in Northeast Consortium projects-examining: (1) whether knowledge integration was considered important and achievable, and why; and (2) whether and how fishermen and scientists learned about the scientific process or fishermen and fishing, respectively, from participating in cooperative research. Ramifications of the study and recommendations for research program managers are discussed.

Effects of marine reserves on California spiny lobster are robust and modified by fine-scale habitat features and distance from reserve borders

“…Bold text indicates statistical significance at or beyond the 0.05 level Pérez-Ruzafa 1999, Sale et al 2005) and affects stakeholder confidence in reserve science (Agardy et al 2003). An important step in minimizing habitat bias was the inclusion of commercial fishermen, whose local ecological knowledge (Hartley & Robertson 2008) was essential for identifying reefs with similar physical characteristics and historical fishing production (Kay et al 2012). Evidence that we were successful in selecting such reefs is suggested by catch patterns among sublegal lobsters, for which variation among sites was relatively low (Fig.…”

Assessing Stakeholder Perspectives on the Impacts of a Decade of Collaborative Fisheries Research in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank

“…Of participating fishermen surveyed, 73.6% stated that their understanding of scientific methods had improved, and 86.3% felt that their knowledge and skills improved the research. The participating scientists surveyed all agreed (100%) that the knowledge and experience of fishermen are important to scientific research and fisheries management (Hartley and Robertson 2009). The overall positive impact of collaboration is further evidenced from ethnographic research (one-on-one interviews, case studies) conducted in the northeastern United States (Johnson 2007, in press).…”

“…Surveys of fishermen and scientists have documented how collaborative research improves partnerships and integrates knowledge (e.g., Conway and Pomeroy 2006;Hartley and Robertson 2008). Many cite that industry-science collaboration has been worthwhile, both within New England (e.g., Hartley and Robertson 2009) and across the globe (Hogarth 2006;Armstrong et al 2008). Perhaps most importantly, collaborative research has helped bring fishermen's information, first-hand experience, and expertise-termed ''traditional ecological knowledge (TEK)-into the scientific framework needed for effective management of our marine resources (Hartley and Robertson 2009;Johnson 2010).…”

Evaluation of dungeness crab pots as platforms of opportunity for ocean-observing research

“…Hartley and Robertson [14] summarize the practice of cooperative research in the context of fisheries research as "combining the scientific community's methods and credibility with the fishing community's knowledge of the marine ecosystem and marine operations. "…”

“…Cooperative science engages both members of the public and scientists to undertake research projects [14]. For example, In the United States, fishermen have been engaged in cooperative fisheries research with ocean scientists since the early 1900s.…”