Stakeholder diversity matters: employing the wisdom of crowds for data-poor fisheries assessments
Abstract Embracing local knowledge is vital to conserve and manage biodiversity, yet frameworks to do so are lacking. We need to understand which, and how many knowledge holders are needed to ensure that management recommendations arising from local knowledge are not skewed towards the most vocal in...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-84970-4 |
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| author | Benjamin L. H. Jones Rolando O. Santos W. Ryan James Samuel Shephard Aaron J. Adams Ross E. Boucek Lucy Coals Sophia V. Costa Leanne C. Cullen-Unsworth Jennifer S. Rehage |
| author_facet | Benjamin L. H. Jones Rolando O. Santos W. Ryan James Samuel Shephard Aaron J. Adams Ross E. Boucek Lucy Coals Sophia V. Costa Leanne C. Cullen-Unsworth Jennifer S. Rehage |
| author_sort | Benjamin L. H. Jones |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Embracing local knowledge is vital to conserve and manage biodiversity, yet frameworks to do so are lacking. We need to understand which, and how many knowledge holders are needed to ensure that management recommendations arising from local knowledge are not skewed towards the most vocal individuals. Here, we apply a Wisdom of Crowds framework to a data-poor recreational catch-and-release fishery, where individuals interact with natural resources in different ways. We aimed to test whether estimates of fishing quality from diverse groups (multiple ages and years of experience), were better than estimates provided by homogenous groups and whether thresholds exist for the number of individuals needed to capture estimates. We found that diversity matters; by using random subsampling combined with saturation principles, we determine that targeting 31% of the survey sample size captured 75% of unique responses. Estimates from small diverse subsets of this size outperformed most estimates from homogenous groups; sufficiently diverse small crowds are just as effective as large crowds in estimating ecological state. We advocate for more diverse knowledge holders in local knowledge research and application. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2ae5296df120430397fec23c09af48a1 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-2ae5296df120430397fec23c09af48a12025-01-05T12:14:35ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-01-0115111310.1038/s41598-024-84970-4Stakeholder diversity matters: employing the wisdom of crowds for data-poor fisheries assessmentsBenjamin L. H. Jones0Rolando O. Santos1W. Ryan James2Samuel Shephard3Aaron J. Adams4Ross E. Boucek5Lucy Coals6Sophia V. Costa7Leanne C. Cullen-Unsworth8Jennifer S. Rehage9Project SeagrassDepartment of Biological Sciences, Institute of Environment, Florida International UniversityDepartment of Earth and Environment, Institute of Environment, Florida International UniversityInland Fisheries IrelandBonefish and Tarpon TrustDepartment of Earth and Environment, Institute of Environment, Florida International UniversityProject SeagrassDepartment of Earth and Environment, Institute of Environment, Florida International UniversityProject SeagrassDepartment of Earth and Environment, Institute of Environment, Florida International UniversityAbstract Embracing local knowledge is vital to conserve and manage biodiversity, yet frameworks to do so are lacking. We need to understand which, and how many knowledge holders are needed to ensure that management recommendations arising from local knowledge are not skewed towards the most vocal individuals. Here, we apply a Wisdom of Crowds framework to a data-poor recreational catch-and-release fishery, where individuals interact with natural resources in different ways. We aimed to test whether estimates of fishing quality from diverse groups (multiple ages and years of experience), were better than estimates provided by homogenous groups and whether thresholds exist for the number of individuals needed to capture estimates. We found that diversity matters; by using random subsampling combined with saturation principles, we determine that targeting 31% of the survey sample size captured 75% of unique responses. Estimates from small diverse subsets of this size outperformed most estimates from homogenous groups; sufficiently diverse small crowds are just as effective as large crowds in estimating ecological state. We advocate for more diverse knowledge holders in local knowledge research and application.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-84970-4Collective intelligenceFisheries managementIndigenous and local knowledgeRecreational fisheriesWisdom of crowds |
| spellingShingle | Benjamin L. H. Jones Rolando O. Santos W. Ryan James Samuel Shephard Aaron J. Adams Ross E. Boucek Lucy Coals Sophia V. Costa Leanne C. Cullen-Unsworth Jennifer S. Rehage Stakeholder diversity matters: employing the wisdom of crowds for data-poor fisheries assessments Scientific Reports Collective intelligence Fisheries management Indigenous and local knowledge Recreational fisheries Wisdom of crowds |
| title | Stakeholder diversity matters: employing the wisdom of crowds for data-poor fisheries assessments |
| title_full | Stakeholder diversity matters: employing the wisdom of crowds for data-poor fisheries assessments |
| title_fullStr | Stakeholder diversity matters: employing the wisdom of crowds for data-poor fisheries assessments |
| title_full_unstemmed | Stakeholder diversity matters: employing the wisdom of crowds for data-poor fisheries assessments |
| title_short | Stakeholder diversity matters: employing the wisdom of crowds for data-poor fisheries assessments |
| title_sort | stakeholder diversity matters employing the wisdom of crowds for data poor fisheries assessments |
| topic | Collective intelligence Fisheries management Indigenous and local knowledge Recreational fisheries Wisdom of crowds |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-84970-4 |
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