Closing the day will be Catalina López-Sagástegui, who will go into detail about our Citizen Science program in the Upper Gulf of California during Monday’s afternoon sessions (August 18th). Catalina will describe how our collaborative program has helped move the region’s fisheries towards sustainable practices while bridging the strong feeling of disconnect between fisheries management and conservation initiatives.
Catalina’s abstract is below. Send us your questions and don’t forget to follow the team – Marcia (@SpatialOctopus), Catalina (@Catlosa_) and Octavio (@octavioaburto)- as they tweet and report all the way from Glasgow, Scotland!
Take a look at the IMCC3 website for more information: http://www.conbio.org/mini-sites/imcc-2014
For full program visit: http://birenheide.com/IMCC2014/program/sessionlist.php
Reconciling Environmental Protection and Sustainable Resource Use through Citizen Science in the Upper Gulf of California. Lopez-Sagastegui, Catalina *, UCMEXUS, UC Riverisde; Moreno-Baez, Marcia Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego; Mascareñas-Osorio, Ismael Centro para la Biodiversidad Marina y Conservación; Domínguez-Pérez, Ana Gulf of California Marine Program; Hinojosa, Gustavo Centro para la Biodiversidad Marina y Conservación; Erisman, Brad Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego; Aburto-Oropeza, Octavio Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego;
Abstract: In recent years, scholars have called for greater integration of local knowledge in science, particularly where natural resource management and priority species conservation overlap. Science programs have begun to apply participatory approaches that seek to increase collaboration, cooperation and co-production of data. The University of California Riverside and Scripps Institution of Oceanography have established a citizen science program in the Upper Gulf of California, Mexico, as a means to understand the interactions between small-scale fishing activities, ecosystem processes and endemic and endangered species. Through citizen science we aim to bridge the gap between the conservation and fisheries agendas in an area where conflict between the two are common. An open and transparent process where data collection, analysis and discussion takes place has helped generate trust, which in turn has increased stakeholder investment in research activities and policy processes. We developed this collaborative framework in the context of small-scale fisheries which are the main source of income for local communities. Our results show that fishermen involvement, supported by communication strategies, has improved our collective understanding of fishing dynamics within a natural protected area. Our citizen science framework has improved data collection in one of the most productive areas in Mexico.
