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Fishers’ knowledge as a source of information about the estuarine dolphin (Sotalia guianensis, van Bénéden, 1864)

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Abstract

Fishers’ local ecological knowledge (LEK) is an additional tool to obtain information about cetaceans, regarding their local particularities, fishing interactions, and behavior. However, this knowledge could vary in depth of detail according to the level of interaction that fishers have with a specific species. This study investigated differences in small-scale fishers’ LEK regarding the estuarine dolphin (Sotalia guianensis) in three Brazilian northeast coastal communities where fishing is practiced in estuarine lagoons and/or coastal waters and where dolphin-watching tourism varies from incipient to important. The fishers (N = 116) were asked about general characteristics of S. guianensis and their interactions with this dolphin during fishing activities. Compared to lagoon fishers, coastal fishers showed greater knowledge about the species but had more negative interactions with the dolphin during fishing activities. Coastal fishing not only offered the opportunity for fishers to observe a wider variety of the dolphin’s behavior, but also implied direct contact with the dolphins, as they are bycaught in coastal gillnets. Besides complementing information that could be used for the management of cetaceans, this study shows that the type of environment most used by fishers also affects the accuracy of the information they provide. When designing studies to gather information on species and/or populations with the support of fishers, special consideration should be given to local particularities such as gear and habitats used within the fishing community.

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Acknowledgments

We thank all the fishers from the three villages for their kind support and patience with the long interviews, and mostly for sharing their knowledge. We also thank Geraldo B. Freire Junior for helping with the statistics and Silvia N. Viana for the map. To CAPES for the grant provided to the first author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Program in Ecology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, CB, Campus Universitário Lagoa Nova, Natal, RN, 59078-900, Brazil

    Maíra Fontes Manzan

  2. Department of Ecology, CB, Campus Universitário Lagoa Nova, Natal, RN, 59078-900, Brazil

    Priscila F. M. Lopes

  3. FIFO—Fisheries and Food Institute, Santos, SP, Brazil

    Priscila F. M. Lopes

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  1. Maíra Fontes Manzan
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  2. Priscila F. M. Lopes
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Correspondence to Priscila F. M. Lopes.

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Manzan, M.F., Lopes, P.F.M. Fishers’ knowledge as a source of information about the estuarine dolphin (Sotalia guianensis, van Bénéden, 1864). Environ Monit Assess 187, 4096 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-014-4096-8

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