Fishers' ecological knowledge of the Lower Ucayali

Scientists increasingly draw on fishers' ecological knowledge (FEK) to gain a better understanding of fish biology and ecology and inform options for fisheries management. We report on a study of FEK among fishers along the Lower Ucayali River in Peru, a region of exceptional productivity and diversity, which is also a major supplier of fish to the largest city in the Peruvian Amazon. Given a lack of available scientific information on stocks status, we sought to identify temporal changes in the composition and size of exploited species by interviewing fishers from 18 communities who vary in years of fishing experience since the mid-1950s. We develop four FEK-based indicators to assess changes in the fish assemblage and compare findings with landings data. 

We find an intensification of fishing gear deployed over time, spatiotemporal shifts in the fish assemblage, and reported declines in species weight, which point to a fishing-down process with declines across multiple species. This finding is reflected in a shifting baseline among our participants, whereby younger generation of fishers have different expectations regarding the distribution and size of species. Our study points to the importance of spillover effects from the nearby Pacaya-Samira National Reserve and community initiatives to support the regional fishery and the supply of fish to city markets. Reference to fishers' knowledge also suggests that species decline is likely underreported in aggregated landings data. 

The dataset contains information derived from fishers' interviews as well as a subset of socioeconomic information gathered during follow-up household surveys. Additional information gathered during household surveys conducted by the Peruvian Amazon Rural Livelihoods and Poverty (PARLAP) project (https://parlap.geog.mcgill.ca) between 2014 and 2016 is also included. Landings data included in this study are restricted and not available publicly. The aggregated dataset of landings in Loreto from 1984 to 2016 is the property of the Dirección Regional de la Producción Loreto. Data are available to qualified researchers from Dirección Regional de la Producción Loreto by contacting the Director, whose contact information is available at https://www.gob.pe/institucion/regionloreto/funcionarios.