Fish and Fishermen: An Interdisciplinary and Comprehensive Approach to a Small-Scale Fishery in Puerto Rico

Reef fisheries are complex and diverse; management of these resources depends on many natural and anthropogenic factors. Adequate management should take into account socio-economic factors such as marginality and economic disadvantage of reef fishermen in the Caribbean and other parts of the word. A small-scale fishery in Puerto Rico has been defined as artisanal enterprises regulated by the government at the local and federal levels. Management strategies are conceived and implemented from a top-down perspective commonly promoting rejection by the fishermen communities. In order to facilitate an alternative approach to this complex problem in Puerto Rico we design a comprehensive case study at the Puerto Real community in the municipality of Cabo Rojo. Phenomenological interviews have been designed and conducted to a group of old fishermen, aiming at documenting the Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) of the participants. Results allowed us to chronologically estimate abundance changes in reef fishes and along ecosystem associated with them. Ethnographic findings are complemented with different scientific data raised up by other studies including fisheries statistic data produced by the government. This novel assessment evaluates some current production strategies developed at these fisheries and reveal parallel knowledge directed to the improvement and maintenance of the catches.