Acronym LECOFISH
Category
Fisheries
Title An ecosystem approach in sustainable fisheries management through local ecological knowledge Programme National Programme
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source National Coordinator Frank Maes Coordinator email Frank.Maes@ugent.be
Coordinator institution
UGent - Ghent University (Belgium)
Institutions involved
NA
Start year 2009 End year 2011 Funding (€) € 177,250 Website https://www.belspo.be/belspo/NorthSea/program/LECOFISH_en.pdf Summary During the last decade, the international focus in the governance of marine fisheries has shifted towards an ecosystem approach. The main goal of the approach is to achieve sustainable use of resources in which all components of the marine ecosystem and their interactions are covered. A parallel movement is also underway in which the growing interest in Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) as a knowledge system as well as the recognition that LEK can make a contribution to sustainable use of resources. In general, LEK can be defined as knowledge held by a group of people about their local environment. In Belgium, studies regarding LEK are yet to be carried out. Recently, scientific research has acknowledged the existence of knowledge gaps and has made an appeal to the scientific community to do research concerning LEK. LECOFISH is suitable as an answer to this call. LECOFISH contains the characteristic to be one of the first studies relating to LEK in fisheries conducted in Belgium. The objective of LECOFISH is twofold, notably theoretical and practical. The theoretical goals are to improve our knowledge about the local ecosystems in the Belgian Part of the North Sea (BPNS). Secondly, we want to create new and additional information in order to minimize the knowledge gaps existing in Scientific Ecological Knowledge (SEK). The main goal is to gain a full insight into the complex marine ecosystem.
The objective of LECOFISH is to improve our fisheries knowledge of local ecosystems in the BPNS, by means of new and additional information gathered by "Local Ecological Knowledge" (LEK) in order to fill in knowledge gaps that exist in "Scientific Ecological Knowledge" (SEK). LECOFISH does not intend to be a substitute for SEK, but can be supportive to SEK. LECOFISH aims to collect fisheries - and ecosystem related data and information during a period of 50 years by making use of oral information gathered from professional and recreational fishermen in order to analyse spatial and temporal distribution of fishery activities and fish abundance in the BPNS based on catches and to translate fishermen's LEK into spatial maps for the BPNS.
Keywords
Fisheries management;
Ecosystem approach;
Sustainability;
Marine Region
5
Southern North Sea (27.IVc)
1
Marine Region Map
