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existence
Local traditional fishing practices
A strategy for Existence
T
he orientor Existence relates
to the very basic elements a
community needs to survive in
a stable, predictable environment.
For remote and riverside communities, fish is a crucial component
of the diet, so sustainable and
efficient practices are essential to
keep a healthy fish population and
secure this important part of the
diet. “Traditional fishing practices”
are a fully community owned solution as they rely fully on local and
traditional knowledge, selective
extraction, essential local consumption, with no or very little external
influences.
challenges this best practice
addresses
The main challenge behind the
Existence orientor is for communities to maintain a healthy environment in order to sustain the regular
and predictable production of the
basic resources for survival: food,
water, shelter, medicine. With an
increasingly unpredictable climate,
and higher threats from extractive
activities by local to international
players, key resources are put under
pressure jeopardising the Existence
of the North Rupununi communities.
Another challenge is to maintain,
from one generation to the next,
sustainable resource management.
This is difficult as young people
are leaving communities to pursue
education or job opportunities, or
simply as external equipment and/
or external demand start being
prioritised as a way of saving time or
generating an income for engaging
with consumer society, rather than
maintaining ecologically sustainable
self-sufficiency.
examples of community owned
indicators and thresholds
Indicator: People who have the
knowledge about fishing practices
according to the seasons and the fish
population in their area.
Threshold: The majority of the population has this knowledge.
community view of the best
practice
“Uncle Romeo was chosen because
his skills and knowledge are exceptional, and he is willing to talk about
them. He is ’environmentally minded‘,
his practices are local and traditional,
he doesn’t depend on external
equipment and he knows and
believes these practices are sustainable. He is conscious of the fish
population in the area. Other villages
would not talk about their fishing
practices because they have nets or
seines. But Uncle Romeo was available, willing and interested. (…) He
has a lot of knowledge and answers
very precisely. (…) Growing up, he
never wanted to use any other equipment because he didn’t know and
also because of the environment. He
recognises the difference of impact
on the environment.”
Community researcher
Project COBRA promotes community owned solutions and successes
www.projectcobra.org
@project_cobra
Project COBRA
existence
“The very basic elements
a community needs to survive in
a stable, predictable environment“
Photo: Andrea Borgarello
sharing the best practice
policy messages
The key steps to implement local sustainable
fishing practices are:
•
Know the different fishes’ habitats, behaviour
and optimal season or time of the day in
order to target appropriately. Moreover, this
practice is also time efficient for the fisher;
The Guiana Shield contains 10-15% of the
world’s freshwater reserves, maintaining
healthy freshwater ecosystems, and supporting important small-scale, traditional, artisanal and subsistence inland fisheries.
•
Use a variety of fishing techniques and equipment according to the fish species targeted:
bow and arrow for surface water fish, rod
for mid-level fish, line and hook for deep or
shallow water. Fishing with gill nets and seine
is presented as a bad practice, as the fishing
process is not selective;
Local traditional fishing practices contribute
significantly to many local communities in
terms of diet (and associated culture and
belief systems) and income, while at the same
time maintaining ecological food webs, particularly for top endangered predators such as
Black Caiman and Giant Otters.
•
Small-scale fisheries suffer from a multitude
of factors from both inside and outside
the communities, including mining and
logging, climate change and illegal fishing.
Subsequently, small-scale fisheries, in many
cases, fall short of their potential to be a significant driver for development.
•
There is an urgent need to incorporate sustainable fishing best practices of Indigenous
communities into national sustainable development planning.
•
•
•
Know how to build or where to get traditional
fishing equipment (e.g. bow and arrow) and
how to use it;
•
Appreciate the quantity of fish needed and
for what purpose;
•
Make children/family/friends observe and,
even better, participate in fishing trips and in
the preparation and cooking of fish meals to
raise awareness from a very young age about
the close link between natural resources and
human survival.
Project COBRA is supported by a three year grant from the European Commission 7th Framework Programme