Ethnoichthyology

Last updated

Ethnoichthyology is a multidisciplinary field of study that examines human knowledge of fish, the uses of fish, and importance of fish in different human societies. It draws on knowledge from many different areas including anthropology, ichthyology, economics, oceanography, and marine botany.

Contents

This area of study seeks to understand the details of the interactions of humans with fish, including both cognitive and behavioural aspects. [1] A knowledge of fish and their life strategies is extremely important to fishermen. In order to conserve fish species, it is also important to be aware of other cultures' knowledge of fish. Ignorance of the effects of human activity on fish populations may endanger fish species. Knowledge of fish can be gained through experience, scientific research, or information passed down through generations. Some factors that affect the amount of knowledge acquired include the value and abundance of the various types of fish, their usefulness in fisheries, and the amount of time one spends observing the fishes' life history patterns. [2]

Etymology

An early use of the term was in a 1967 paper by Warren T. Morrill on the folk knowledge of the french-speaking fishermen (known locally as Cha-Cha) living in Carenage (Frenchtown), Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. While other early examples of research in folk knowledge of nature had found good correspondence with scientific knowledge, this was not expected regarding fishermen's knowledge of fish given that they only observed specimens that they caught. Such specimens were thought to provide accurate information on taxonomy, but limited knowledge of their natural behavior and ecology. Instead, ethnoicthyological research found limited correspondence between Cha-Cha and scientific naming of fish. However, the behavior of fish, including such details as sensory capabilities, were known to the Cha-Cha based upon such knowledge being useful in selection the best methods for finding and catching each species. [3] The use of this term arose from the prior usage of ethnobiology [4] and ethnozoology. [5]

Importance in conservation

Ethnoichthyology can be very useful to the study and investigation of environmental changes caused by anthropogenic factors, such as the decline of fish stocks, the disappearance of fish species, and the introduction of non-native species of fish in certain environments. [6] Ethnoichthyological knowledge can be used to create environmental conservation strategies. [7] With a sound knowledge of fish ecology, informed decisions with respect to fishing practices can be made, and destructive environmental practices can be avoided. Ethnoichthyological knowledge can be the difference between conserving a species of fish, or placing a moratorium on fishing.

Newfoundland's cod fishery collapse

The collapse of the cod fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador was due to a lack of ethnoichthyological knowledge and conservation efforts. The waters of Newfoundland were once teeming with cod. John Cabot's crew reported that "The sea there is full of fish that can be taken not only with nets, but fishing baskets." [8] Until John Cabot's crew arrived in Newfoundland, those who caught cod were mostly subsistence fishermen. They generally used techniques like jigging, longlining, and small trawler use. [9] These methods were not stressful on the cod population. However, the invasion of European superpowers put a great deal of pressure on the environment. At one point, the French, English, Spanish and Portuguese would anchor as nearby as 12 miles off the Newfoundland shore with large trawlers in order to maximize their catch. This was extremely detrimental to the population. The catch of cod reached its peak in 1968 at 80,000 tons, [10] after which a steady decrease in population was observed. Foreign ships were forced to fish two hundred miles offshore. Despite good intentions, the results were not favourable. This was because Canadian and American fishermen were then freed of competition and able to increase their catch. By the 1980s the amount of fish taken had increased from a safe 139,000 tons to an unsustainable 250,000 tons. [9]

The use of draggers was found to be extremely detrimental to the cod population in several ways. Not only did it decimate the number of adult cod, but it wreaked havoc on their reproduction. While spawning, cod are extremely vulnerable to disturbance. Their eggs are often dispersed due to the draggers. The draggers also emit a chemical that is thought to negatively affect the embryogenic development of the cod. Finally, the draggers destroy the habitat of the cod, other fish and crustaceans. [11]

The Canadian federal government was forced to issue a moratorium on cod fishing in 1992 due to populations reaching dangerously low numbers. Though local inshore fishermen had been voicing concerns about the state of the population since the early 1980s, the government choose to rely on scientific data. The scientific community failed to see the signs of the unstable population until 1986. When they presented their findings to the government, a suitable reduction was not put in place with enough haste to allow population to stabilize. The government was forced to put a ban on cod fishing or risk extinction. [9]

This ban could have been avoided if the ethnoichthyological knowledge of the local fishermen had been given more consideration. Though the moratorium kept the cod from becoming extinct in the Newfoundland area, it also had some negative effects. Large companies lost business and subsistence fishermen were forced to find new ways of making a living. It is unlikely that the cod will ever return to their original numbers.

Specific cultures

Ethnoichthyological knowledge varies among cultures. Every cultural group has a different way of interacting with the fish species in their environment. Often, folk knowledge coincides with the ideas put forth in scientific literature. Those who work with fish, such as fishermen, possess a wide range of knowledge concerning the fish they have experience with. They understand things like the trophic relationships among native and exotic fish species, migratory patterns, and the habitat preferences of the most prized fishes. It has been established that fishermen have a good grasp on classification, and fish biology. This knowledge can be used to improve fishery management strategies. Folk knowledge can be extremely important when expanding biological research. [2]

Piracaba River

A small fishery on the Piracaba river in Brazil was the subject of a recent ethnobiological study by Renato et al.. [2] Researchers wanted to examine the knowledge of the Brazilian fishermen to see how it compared to data in the scientific literature. The fishermen displayed a great deal of knowledge pertaining to diet, predation, distribution, reproduction, and migration. They were more likely be knowledgeable about things such as habitat than reproduction. Though reproduction is imperative to the continuation of the species, knowledge of spawning times has little to no bearing on the fishermen's work. Habitat, however, is a subject in which having knowledge is extremely important. The fishermen must know where the fish live in order to make a good catch. In knowing what a particular species eats, one can determine more precisely where the desired species may be found. Fishermen are also careful to be aware of where the desired species' predators hunt, to ensure that they do not lose some of their catch. The fishermen's knowledge of fish species' habits is increased for species that are common or economically valuable. [2]

The Cha-Cha

The Cha Cha of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands are proficient in catching fish through three methods. Traps made of wood, metal, and mesh are used by professional fishermen as well as subsistence fishermen. Subsistence fishermen typically set a few traps in shallow water near their homes, whereas professional fishermen set a large number of traps in deep water. Seining is one of the least common fishing techniques in the Cha Cha culture due to time restraints and yielding an impractically large catch. It is time consuming because it requires a great deal of precision as the technique varies with the size and shape of the fish. It is often considered of lesser importance as the yields are usually so great that the fish cannot all be sold before they spoil. Seining involves using a vertical net that can be drawn up to encircle a school of fish. Handlining, in combination with chumming, is the last of the three methods used by the Cha-Cha. Ten or fifteen pounds of small fish called "fry" are ground up in a mixture of sand and then tossed into the water. This mixture called chum will attract fish. At this point, hand lines are baited with whole fry. This method results in large harvests of fish. [3]

Fish in culture

Fish, along with being an important food source, play many roles in human culture. Fish star in many novels and movies such as The Old Man and the Sea , Jonah and the Whale , Jaws , Shark Tale and Finding Nemo . Fish have also served a spiritual purpose in some religions. They are important symbols in religions such as Christianity, Hinduism, and Judaism. The Ichthys, a simple fish design, is well known in Christian culture. It is thought to be related to the feeding of the multitudes. Jesus Christ multiplied loaves of bread and fish in order to feed a large gathering of people. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cod</span> Common name for the demersal fish genus Gadus

Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus Gadus is commonly not called cod.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlantic cod</span> Species of fish

The Atlantic cod is a fish of the family Gadidae, widely consumed by humans. It is also commercially known as cod or codling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Overfishing</span> Removal of a species of fish from water at a rate that the species cannot replenish

Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally, resulting in the species becoming increasingly underpopulated in that area. Overfishing can occur in water bodies of any sizes, such as ponds, wetlands, rivers, lakes or oceans, and can result in resource depletion, reduced biological growth rates and low biomass levels. Sustained overfishing can lead to critical depensation, where the fish population is no longer able to sustain itself. Some forms of overfishing, such as the overfishing of sharks, has led to the upset of entire marine ecosystems. Types of overfishing include growth overfishing, recruitment overfishing, and ecosystem overfishing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newfoundland outport</span> Style of community

An outport is the term given for a small coastal community in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Originally, the term was used for coastal communities on the island of Newfoundland, but the term has now been adopted for those on the mainland area of Labrador as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turbot War</span> 1994–96 dispute between Canada and Spain

The Turbot War was an international fishing dispute and bloodless conflict between Canada and Spain and their respective supporters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twillingate</span> Place in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Twillingate is a town of 2,121 people located on the Twillingate Islands ("Toulinquet") in Notre Dame Bay, off the north eastern shore of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The town is about 100 kilometres (62 mi) north of Lewisporte and Gander.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southport, Newfoundland and Labrador</span>

Southport is a community in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is located on the southern side of the entrance to Trinity Bay's Southwest Arm, about 41 km southeast of Clarenville. It is part of the local service district and designated place of Caplin Cove-Southport.

Individual fishing quotas (IFQs), also known as "individual transferable quotas" (ITQs), are one kind of catch share, a means by which many governments regulate fishing. The regulator sets a species-specific total allowable catch (TAC), typically by weight and for a given time period. A dedicated portion of the TAC, called quota shares, is then allocated to individuals. Quotas can typically be bought, sold and leased, a feature called transferability. As of 2008, 148 major fisheries around the world had adopted some variant of this approach, along with approximately 100 smaller fisheries in individual countries. Approximately 10% of the marine harvest was managed by ITQs as of 2008. The first countries to adopt individual fishing quotas were the Netherlands, Iceland and Canada in the late 1970s, and the most recent is the United States Scallop General Category IFQ Program in 2010. The first country to adopt individual transferable quotas as a national policy was New Zealand in 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing industry in Scotland</span> Aquaculture and marine catching in the UK country

The fishing industry in Scotland comprises a significant proportion of the United Kingdom fishing industry. A recent inquiry by the Royal Society of Edinburgh found fishing to be of much greater social, economic and cultural importance to Scotland than it is relative to the rest of the UK. Scotland has just 8.4 per cent of the UK population but lands at its ports over 60 per cent of the total catch in the UK.

<i>The End of the Line</i> (book) Book by Charles Clover

The End of the Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World and What We Eat is a book by journalist Charles Clover about overfishing. It was made into a movie released in 2009 and was re-released with updates in 2017.

This is a glossary of terms used in fisheries, fisheries management and fisheries science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cod fishing in Newfoundland</span>

Cod fishing in Newfoundland was carried out at a subsistence level for centuries, but large scale fishing began shortly after the European arrival in the North American continent in 1492, with the waters being found to be preternaturally plentiful, and ended after intense overfishing with the collapse of the fisheries in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing industry in Russia</span>

The coastline of the Russian Federation is the fourth longest in the world after the coastlines of Canada, Greenland, and Indonesia. The Russian fishing industry has an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 7.6 million km2 including access to twelve seas in three oceans, together with the landlocked Caspian Sea and more than two million rivers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Collapse of the Atlantic northwest cod fishery</span> Environmental disaster in Canada

In 1992, Northern Cod populations fell to 1% of historical levels, due in large part to decades of overfishing. The Canadian Federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, John Crosbie, declared a moratorium on the Northern Cod fishery, which for the preceding 500 years had primarily shaped the lives and communities of Canada's eastern coast. A significant factor contributing to the depletion of the cod stocks off Newfoundland's shores was the introduction of equipment and technology that increased landed fish volume. From the 1950s onwards, new technology allowed fishers to trawl a larger area, fish more in-depth, and for a longer time, with the catches peaking in the 1970s and 1980s. Cod stocks were depleted at a faster rate than could be replenished.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cod fisheries</span> Fisheries for cod

Cod fisheries are fisheries for cod. Cod is the common name for fish of the genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and this article is confined to three species that belong to this genus: the Atlantic cod, the Pacific cod and the Greenland cod. Although there is a fourth species of the cod genus Gadus, Alaska pollock, it is commonly not called cod and therefore currently not covered here.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port of Póvoa de Varzim</span>

The Port of Póvoa de Varzim is a seaport built in Enseada da Póvoa Bay in the city of Póvoa de Varzim in Portugal. During the Middle Ages, it was known as Port of Varzim.

"Make and Break Harbour" is a song by the Canadian folk singer Stan Rogers, first recorded as the 11th track on the album Fogarty's Cove in 1976. Standing with a significant portion of Rogers' work, the song features two common themes found within his other work: life on the sea and the endangered traditions that life encompasses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commercial fishing in Spain</span> Overview of commercial fishing in Spain

Spain is an eminently maritime country with a long continental shelf running along the entire periphery of the Spanish coast. This narrow continental shelf is extremely rich in fish resources since the shelf is close to land.

Bernard Martin is a Canadian fisherman and environmentalist. He was awarded the Goldman Prize in 1999.

<i>Fisheries Act</i> (Canada) Canadian federal legislation regulating commercial fishing

The Fisheries Act is legislation enacted by the Parliament of Canada, governing the powers of government to regulate fisheries and fishing vessels. The act has been undergoing major regulatory revisions in recent years, including those attached to treaty rights of Miꞌkmaq in Atlantic Canada. The Minister designated under the Act is the Ministers of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard.

References

  1. ↑ MARQUES, J.G.W. Etnoictiologia: pescando pescadores nas águas da transdisciplinaridade. In: ENCONTRO BRASILEIRO DE ICTIOLOGIA, 11, 1995a, Campinas. Resumos... Campinas: UNICAMP/Sociedade Brasileira de Ictiologia, 1995a. p. 1-41.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Renato A. M. Silvano; Alpina Begossi (January 2002). "Ethnoichthyology and fish conservation in the Piracicaba River (Brazil)". Journal of Ethnobiology . 22 (2): 285–306.
  3. 1 2 Morrill, Warren T. (1967). "Ethnoicthyology of the Cha-Cha". Ethnology. 6 (4): 405–416. doi:10.2307/3772827. ISSN   0014-1828. JSTOR   3772827 . Retrieved 2024-09-26.F
  4. ↑ Mourão, José; Nordi, Nivaldo (2002-11-01). "Principais critérios utilizados por pescadores artesanais na taxonomia folk dos peixes do estuário do Rio Mamanguape, Paraíba-Brasil". Interciencia. 27: 607–612.
  5. ↑ Costa-Neto, Eraldo Medeiros; Dias, Cristiano Villela; Nogueira de Melo, Márcia (2002). "O conhecimento ictiológico tradicional dos pescadores da cidade de Barra, região do médio São Francisco, Estado da Bahia, Brasi". Maringá. 24 (2): 561–572.
  6. ↑ Azevedo-Santos, V. M.; Costa-Neto, E. M.; Lima-Stripari, N. 2010. Concepção dos pescadores artesanais que utilizam o reservatório de Furnas, Estado de Minas Gerais, acerca dos recursos pesqueiros: um estudo etnoictiológico. Revista Biotemas, 23 (4): 135-145
  7. ↑ Albuquerque, U. P. 1999. La importancia de los estudios etnobiológicos para establecimiento de estrategias de manejo y conservación en las florestas tropicales. Revista Biotemas, 12: 31-47.
  8. ↑ Cod fishing in Newfoundland#15th and 16th Century
  9. 1 2 3 "Canadian Atlantic Fisheries Collapse". Archived from the original on 2009-01-25. Retrieved 2009-01-13.
  10. ↑ Report on the Status of Groundfish Stocks in the Canadian Northwest Atlantic. Atlantic Stock Assessment Secretariat, Department of Fisheries and Oceans. June 1994. p.19.
  11. ↑ Reproductive Success in Atlantic Cod (Gadus Morhua): The Potential Impact of Trawling. A report prepared by: OCEANS Ltd., Newfoundland for the Newfoundland Inshore Fisheries Association. Feb. 1990. pp79-89.
  12. ↑ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Symbolism of the Fish". www.newadvent.org.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.