Bridging the Gap Between Experience-Based Knowledge and the Scientific Knowledge

Abstract

The context for this study was to document fishers’ experience-based knowledge is reliable and can be included in citizen science as supplementary information to scientific research. Fishers’ experience-based knowledge contributes to important understanding of the environment and the marine ecosystem. Hence, fishers’ knowledge over time is not always regarded as supplementary knowledge. There is a lack of information on how fishers have acquired reliable knowledge when they have not had formal scientific education and in what way fishers’ knowledge can be used as empirical data. In this study, a survey was conducted by scientific educator within the fishing community of Mausund in Norway. The survey was limited to specifically targeting fishers' knowledge of the migration pattern of the edible crab (Cancer pagurus) in Sulfjorden, Mausund and Frohavet. This study performs in-depth interviews with five fishers at Mausund. The experience-based knowledge acquired by these fishers is first and foremost learnt through intergenerational learning from fathers, grandfathers, and uncles to sons. The study supports existing research on fishers’ experience-based knowledge, which is professional and very precise. Experience-based and local knowledge can be understood as a knowledge contribution of value to the research field of environment monitoring.