Mapping place names for small-scale fisheries evaluation

Fishers’ spatial knowledge encompasses a diverse array of social, ecological, technical, experiential, and learning knowledge derived from local environmental and sociocultural contexts. In this study, we used a transdisciplinary framework to shed light on place names of fishing grounds in the context of small-scale fisheries through a case study in Madagascar. First, we jointly monitored fishing boat trajectories based on GPS tracking and recorded the vernacular names of fishing sites in a coral reef fishery from May 2018 to April 2019. This data was processed through spatial analysis to assess the dimensions of each named fishing site. A focus group discussion was conducted with fishers to determine the literal meanings of the toponyms (place names) in the local language. A total of 570 fishers (totaling 15,904 fishing trips) using five gear types were surveyed in eight communities. We identified 397 fishing sites over about 250 km2, 304 of which (76.6%) were mapped. Overall, 371 toponyms (93.4%) were interpreted and categorized based on geographical features (n = 222), biodiversity (n = 86), and maritime uses (n = 63). The dimensions of the fishing sites varied significantly from 0.01 to 11.7 km2, following spatially-explicit fishing distribution patterns and the level of precision of the delimitation method. Most fishing locations (63.3% of the total fishing grounds) were associated with multiple place names, particularly in heavily-targeted areas, indicating that individual fishers typically have their own names for their fishing sites. This study demonstrates that recording boat movements and vernacular toponyms simultaneously throughout an extensive monitoring survey in a coral reef fishery, effectively captured the rich and varied individual fishers’ conceptualizations of the coastal and nearshore marine environment. Our findings suggest that named fishing sites may be used as local spatial reference units with known precision and accuracy, which is relevant for addressing spatial data limitations in small-scale fisheries and incorporating fishers’ knowledge in collaborative fisheries science.