Fishers have a wealth of knowledge and experience from the time spent on and under the water. Fisheries science is often enhanced by including the fishing community in data collection and research. It is important to continue to empower and equip fishers with tools and opportunities to participate in the scientific process. Many successful projects have shown that this collaboration can result in stronger trust between the fishing, science and management communities due to increased confidence in data collection methodologies, a greater understanding of research results, and increased buy-in to resultant management decisions. This session showcases how partnerships with the fishing community leads to more robust science and improved data quality to inform management.
Organizer: Keith Kamikawa, NOAA, [email protected]