“From the shoreside town of Santa Rosa, Ecuador, hundreds of small boats harvest fish from deep Pacific waters, supplying markets around the world. With generations of fishing experience, many of these fishers hold tremendous stores of traditional ecological knowledge. When a first-time interviewer on our research team reported on what he was learning from them, he said, ‘it is like talking to an encyclopedia!’ Unfortunately, however, some of their modern fishing gear can harm or kill marine mammals, including endangered dolphins and whales, such as by entangling them in nylon nets. Our research team was contracted by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to help figure out how to address the problem that the U.S. has long imported fish harvested without the same protections for marine mammals that we enforce in our domestic fishing fleet. Answers are not simple, since in much of the world, fish are caught by many small boats, landed in many small harbors and sold to many dealers who supply processors that send many seafood products to many countries. Each type of fishing gear, species target, and time and location of harvest operations has different potential for mammal interactions. Profit incentives, knowledge sharing and collaboration among boat owners and crew can also be factors. Informal social norms can powerfully shape vessel operations, sometimes more so than official regulations. In our field interviews in Ecuador, Chile and Argentina, I was continually impressed that many fishers talked openly about how sad they are when fishing harms dolphins and whales and were quite willing to help find solutions to the problem. Sometimes gear alterations or other technologies help but we know from extensive research in fishing communities and other environmental commons that when we involve local resource users in developing locally appropriate rules, they are more likely to follow them, which lowers the overall cost to society.”

— Jennifer Brewer, Associate Professor of Geography