Artisanal fishers are almost as accurate as satellites in producing environmental data

Researchers say their findings highlight the expertise of local fishing communities and the contribution they can make to environmental awareness
Konstantis Alexopoulos: Ocean Science graduate research into local ecological knowledge
Konstantis Alexopoulos
Artisanal fishers can be almost as accurate as satellite data when it comes to their awareness of features that can be found in the marine environment, a new study has shown.
Published in the journal Ocean and Coastal Management, the research set out to establish the value of local ecological knowledge (LEK) and its ability to generate high quality habitat maps around five Greek islands in the eastern Aegean Sea.
Ten fishermen, based on their individual experience and knowledge, were asked to pinpoint areas where they believed seagrass beds could be found along the coastlines of their respective islands.
The maps they produced were then compared with satellite data of the same regions, with analysis showing an average accuracy of 78% – and a high of 92%.
The fishermen’s maps were also 11% more accurate than those used by the Greek government in the development of environmental policies, with more than half of the government maps underestimating the scale of seagrass beds found across the region.
The researchers say their findings are a clear demonstration of the value of tapping into local knowledge, and how doing so can be a low-cost means of generating environmental data without compromising the high accuracy needed for the data to be still valuable for policy use.
The study was carried out by researchers from the University of Plymouth and the Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation. They worked closely with fishermen on the islands of Fourni, Arki, Patmos, Lipsi and Leros, each of which are home to communities made up largely of small artisanal fishing vessels.

Some of the fishermen we spoke to had been sailing the same waters every day for more than 60 years.

That experience has given them a huge amount of knowledge, but we wanted to test precisely how accurate their empirical data were in comparison to more traditional sources of information. For some personal recollections to be 90% as accurate as the data provided from satellites is really impressive, and something we should be taking into greater account. It also highlights the importance of gathering such information, as there is a huge wealth of data within local fishing communities that is otherwise at risk of being lost as fewer younger people enter the profession in the future.
Konstantis Alexopoulos
 Ocean Science and Marine Conservation graduate, now pursuing a PhD with the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge
Lead author on the study
Konstantis Alexopoulos: Ocean Science graduate research into local ecological knowledge Konstantis Alexopoulos
Those involved in the research say it is another example of how communities, scientists and decision makers could work in collaboration to meet ambitions set out within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
And despite it being centred around the eastern Aegean Sea, they believe their findings – and the methods used to reach them – will be relevant in other parts of the ocean.
In particular, they say LEK could play a pivotal role in generating greater understanding of deeper marine ecosystems which satellites can’t see and for which there are currently little or no maps available to guide management decisions.

There is a huge global drive to get more people involved in projects that incorporate elements of citizen science.

Despite that, expert local ecological knowledge is still being dismissed or discredited by those making decisions about the environment. But just because information hasn’t been generated by expensive technology, it doesn’t make it any less valuable. Using people’s life experiences, gathered from fishing and living in an area over many years, alongside other scientific data can help us develop and implement actions that maintain a healthy global ocean.

Abigail McQuatters-GollopDr Abigail McQuatters-Gollop
Associate Professor of Marine Conservation

  • The full study – Alexopoulos et al.: Is sparse Local Ecological Knowledge accurate enough for policy? A seagrass mapping case study from five Greek islands in the Eastern Aegean Sea – is published in Ocean and Costal Management, DOI: 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2025.107627.
 

From mountains to marine and back again

I grew up in a small mountainous community of Greece, but I would often visit the islands during summer. I've always loved the sea, and so when it came to choosing a university degree, I was please to find one that suited my interests as well as the BSc (Hons) Ocean Science and Marine Conservation course at the University of Plymouth. I loved everything about the course – from conservation theory delivered by world experts in the lecture theatre, to practice in the labs, research outings aboard the RV Falcon Spirit and scientific diving. Doing all that from a place as pretty as Plymouth, with the Cornish coast on your doorstep and Dartmoor National Park one bike ride away, was an amazing added bonus.
During my placement year, I worked with artisanal fishers in the Greek islands of the eastern Aegean Sea. There I was able to see for myself the issues that the marine environment was facing. However, I also was able to fully appreciate how important collaboration with local stakeholders is as we're working towards effective conservation of the marine environment. Once I was back in Plymouth for my final year, choosing a project for my undergraduate dissertation came naturally: we had to highlight the incredible wealth of knowledge that artisanal fishers had, and stress the need for integrating it in policy.
After graduating in 2022, I went back to work for the same organisation that hosted me during my placement year, the Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation, from where I was able to continue my collaboration with the local fishing communities. To now have this research being published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal is something I’m really proud of, because it's a tribute to marine conservation's greatest ally – artisanal fishers.
Konstantis Alexopoulos, BSc (Hons) Ocean Science and Marine Conservation graduate Konstantis Alexopoulos
Although I’ve now taken a bit of a step away from the marine environment, I’m still driven by conservation goals. My PhD – which I’m pursuing with the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge – is focused on how snow in the Mediterranean mountains contributes to water resources.
This is a pressing issue due to climate change, with implications for both humans and the environment. However, the concept of conservation remains mostly the same – from the world's oceans to its highest peaks – and my studies at the University of Plymouth really prepared me for that in the best way possible.
 

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