Quantifying Local Knowledge for Use in Marine Planning:<br/>A Pilot Project in British Columbia’s South Central Coast

It is accepted that local knowledge should be included in marine planning, and this is stated in Canada’s Ocean Act and National Marine Conservation Areas Act. Nonetheless, the integration of local knowledge with quantitative data has proven more difficult than first thought. Thus, resource management is usually divided, with resource users’ anecdotal information on the one side, and quantitative data of scientists on the other.
In this thesis, methodologies and statistical procedures are developed to quantify local fisheries knowledge. Unique indices for precision and valuation are presented. Quantified local knowledge is then examined for spatial correlations with two conventional quantitative datasets: fishery logbook catch data, and a species-habitat model. Local knowledge and logbook data exhibited the highest spatial correlations, followed by local knowledge and the habitat model. Of the three types of data examined, for planning purposes the quantified local knowledge would appear to be the best choice / compromise.