Fishers’ knowledge rivals satellite data

Published in Ocean and Coastal Management, the research by the University of Plymouth and the Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation focused on five Greek islands in the eastern Aegean Sea and explored the potential of LEK to produce reliable habitat maps.

“Some of the fishermen we spoke to had been sailing the same waters every day for more than 60 years,” said lead author, Konstantis Alexopoulos.

“That experience has given them a huge amount of knowledge, but we wanted to test precisely how accurate their empirical data were in comparison to more traditional sources of information.”

Ten fishermen were asked to identify areas where seagrass beds were located along their island coastlines. Their maps were then compared with satellite data, showing an average accuracy of 78%, with one map reaching 92%. Notably, the fishermen’s maps outperformed government-produced maps, which underestimated the extent of seagrass beds by 11%.

“For some personal recollections to be 90% as accurate as the data provided from satellites is really impressive, and something we should be taking into greater account,” said Alexopoulos.

“It also highlights the importance of gathering such information, as there is a huge wealth of data within local fishing communities that is otherwise at risk of being lost as fewer younger people enter the profession in the future.”

The researchers believe that LEK could be a cost-effective method for gathering accurate data, particularly in regions where satellite data may not be sufficient.