New data on archaeofaunal remains from artificial earthen mounds (lomas) in southwestern Amazonia reveal that swamp-eels (Synbranchus spp.) played an important role in pre-Columbian economies. To date, little attention has been paid to synbranchid taxa in the archaeological literature. Furthermore, information on their osteology and ecology is quite scant. In this paper, we use ichthyoarchaeological remains from the Loma Salvatierra site (Llanos de Mojos, Bolivia) in addition to references from the biological and zooarchaeological literature, to summarize and compare the distribution of synbranchid eels through time at pre-Columbian sites in the wetlands of Central and South America. Synbranchid eels are rarely documented as a food resource in present-day Brazil and Bolivia; however, Synbranchus marmoratus consumption has been documented for pre-Columbian and present-day Panama, where the species is called morena. Although swamp-eels were exploited and appreciated during the colonial period in some regions of South America, their consumption there seems to have been abandoned or greatly reduced during the last century.

Throughout the modern day Caribbean, artisanal fishing constitutes an important part of domestic subsistence and household economies. Many of the traditional fishing practices on the islands today were established during the Colonial Period, as enslaved Africans and their descendants developed social, economic, and subsistence strategies to persist under the plantation system. The historical record provides little insight into the day-to-day experiences of these enslaved laborers, including their subsistence regimes and practices. Fishing by slaves in the colonial French Antilles is portrayed in the historic literature as a practice reserved primarily for an “elite” group of fisherman held on wealthy plantations. Archaeology provides insight into the pieces of history left out of the written record and offers valuable information regarding the everyday lives of the enslaved peoples and communities underrepresented in this record. This article presents the results of the zooarchaeological analysis of faunal remains recovered from enslaved laborer and sharecropper occupations at Habitation Crève Cœur, an eighteenth–nineteenth century sugar plantation on the island of Martinique. The data reveal that fishing was an important economic activity for the slaves on this plantation and that the practice of fishing was likely more of a communal act than one for a privileged few. Furthermore, analysis indicates that fishing techniques that continue on the island today originated centuries ago, traditions developed by enslaved laborers living under the severe constraints of the oppressive plantation system.

Zooarchaeological identifications of fish taxa at nineteenth-century Chinese migrant sites in North America indicate that Chinese consumers maintained local, regional, and international connections with a number of discrete fisheries to satisfy their desire for both fresh and salted fish products. To date, no archaeological study has addressed the broader complexity of the Chinese fish trade in North America. This paper explores these intricacies by drawing on historical observations of nineteenth-century Chinese fishing operations in North America, zooarchaeological fish data from sites across the American West, and an in-depth case study of archaeologically recovered fish remains from the Market Street Chinatown in San Jose, California. To better understand the fish data from this site, I use indicator group analysis to identify several likely sources of the specimens identified at the site. Overall, the data show that, although Chinese migrants typically consumed fish taxa that resembled those traditionally eaten in nineteenth-century southern China, they sourced their fish from multiple Chinese and Anglo fisheries throughout the American West and China.

Shellfish collected in the West African mangrove ecosystem of Senegambia provide a crucial source of dietary protein, but the species harvested for household consumption have received little attention in conservation and socioeconomic research. This study examines the edible mollusks, gastropods, and crustaceans that figure prominently in a mangrove ecosystem that has emerged as a global conservation priority. Based on interviews and field observations, the species that are consumed are identified, as well as the locations within the ecosystem where they are harvested. Attention is also drawn to the gendered practices that inform collection and preservation. Edible shellfish hold considerable potential for monitoring mangrove ecosystem health, which is increasingly affected by deforestation and rising and acidifying seas. This paper highlights the importance of collaborating with local peoples who have cultural and economic ties to mangrove forests and ethnobiological knowledge about the management of these resources, which are essential for the development of effective conservation strategies.

The importance of plants to peoples of the circumpolar North is often overlooked by non-residents. This oversight stems partly from perceptions of northern diets as exclusively meat- and fish-based and from a tendency for visiting researchers to assign plants to categories of utility—edible, medicinal, material—without also considering complex relationships between plants and culture. This paper focuses on the “sea of relationships” (Cajete 2000:178) between plants and fishing in the Inuit Community of Makkovik, where plant mentors teach how plants are integrated into cultural practices and day-to-day life. We looked to Indigenous methodologies for guidance in developing research questions, learning about plants through story and practice, and understanding and communicating collective knowledge. Makkovimiut plant mentors collectively tell a story of plants and fishing, illustrated in this paper by Makkovimiut artist Aunt Nellie Winters through her Inukuluk drawings. These oral and visual stories describe plants as part of a large network of relationships connecting trees, fish, birds, soil, berries, and people. Similarly, cultural practices are connected to each other; fishing is connected to berry picking, sharing, traveling, gardening, and celebrating, among other practices. Indigenous methodologies, with their focus on relationships, encourage us to seek connections between people and plants, and broaden our understanding of utility and value. Thinking of plants in relation—connected to everything in an active web of relationships—helps us recognize plants as vital facilitators of cultural practices, values, and community well-being and offers insights into the different kinds of relationships we might cultivate within this interconnected web.

The Atlantic goliath grouper (Epinephelus itajara) is a critically endangered reef fish that has suffered from overfishing. In Brazil, the species has been under a fishing ban since 2002; however, there are no evidences of population recovery. In this context, data to help improve management programs are sorely needed. We assessed fisheries landings and interviewed key informants to investigate fishing, habitat use, and occurrence of goliath grouper in Abrolhos Bank, eastern Brazil. In mangroves, longline was the main fishing gear used to catch the species. Informants reported higher abundances of goliath grouper in red mangroves (Rizophora mangle) within shallow and complex channels. In marine reefs, the species was caught mainly through spearfishing. Goliath grouper occurrence was associated with coral and rocky reefs and was described as an aggregation site of up to 20 individuals. Informants also reported a decline in goliath grouper abundance across all habitats, primarily due to overfishing. Aggregation and nursery sites were mapped and described as essential for goliath grouper conservation. In Brazil, a scarcely enforced fishing moratorium alone is insufficient to guarantee the recovery of goliath grouper populations. Besides increasing the moratorium enforcement, we suggest implementing no-take zones, which encompass both nursery habitats and seasonal aggregation sites described in this study.

This paper presents findings from a species-by-species assessment of the collapse and recovery of a tropical mollusk fishery in Navakavu, Fiji. The results are based on field surveys, photo documentation, collection of voucher specimens, participant observation, and testimonies of past and current generations of female and male fishers. The results show the degradation of fisheries resources at almost all trophic levels over the past 40 years due to overfishing, destructive fishing techniques, and environmental degradation, as well as the positive impacts of the establishment of a locally managed marine area (LMMA) and associated marine protected area (MPA), known locally as “Vueti Navakavu.” Since its establishment in 2002, nearly 300 mollusk species, including gastropods, bivalves, and cephalopods, are either being seen for the first time in over 40 years or are clearly increasing in abundance and/or size class. There has been a particularly dramatic increase in the abundance of a wide range of cone shells (Conus spp.), cowries (Cypraea spp.), conches (Strombidae), murexes (Muricidae), auger shells (Terebridae), and turban snails (Turbanidae), as well as octopus, squid, and seahare, all of which are of economic, cultural, and ecological importance. The results show that sustained effective marine conservation can, in general, lead to the recovery of seriously degraded fisheries and, in particular, of tropical mollusk fauna. This assessment highlights the value of synthesizing up-to-date taxonomic and scientific knowledge with the knowledge of older fishers, who have long-term multi-species knowledge of changing fisheries.

Why is a type of rangeland grass called “the soul of the Hortobágy steppe” by a local herder deemed to be of low value by range scientists? In this paper I examine how herders see wild forage and fodder plants “through the mouths of the animals,” what kind of indicators they use, and how these indicators affect folk taxonomy. I focus on the Poaceae and Cyperaceae families (grasses, sedges, and their relatives), underrepresented taxa in ethnobiological studies. The Hortobágy is a salt steppe with low predictability of rain and pasture conditions. I conducted participatory field work and interviews with 92 herders. Herders have a special term for the consumable biomass of a pasture/meadow, “mező.” They distinguished between 28 types of hay and 30 types of mező and listed 34 plant folk taxa as important forage or fodder. I documented 13 different grazing-related indicators (plant traits), including nutritional value, interannual variation, and resprouting ability. The seasonal change in grazing value was a key indicator. Grazing value was an important, but not the only, factor in the folk taxonomy of grasses and sedges. Certain plant traits which are often used by ecologists, such as clonality, plant architecture, and belowground traits, were not used by herders. Herders and animals practiced reciprocal learning, with herders closely monitoring the feeding behavior of their animals. Herders used indicators to plan grazing routes and short-term transhumance movements. Herders provided their animals with the greatest care possible, even in this unpredictable environment. Folk indicators may give us a better understanding of pastoral grassland and livestock management and herders' “monitoring” activities, and help us maintain and develop sustainable land-use systems.

Ecological and socioeconomic effects of sedentarization campaigns and growing state controls on pastoral practices are a prevalent topic of interest in the study of nomads. Research to date has focused on how processes of industrialization and urbanization bear on the productivity of pasturage and livestock; other constituents of pastoral livelihood, such as secondary animal products, remain less explored. In documenting the making of felt and milk products by Kazakh and Mongol practitioners in the Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, this paper explores the perpetuation of pastoral crafts amid household modernization and the building of market economy in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in western China. The tradition of domestic production of milk products continues despite increased state-control on pastoral ways of life. In contrast, felt-making is no longer essential to domestic subsistence but survives as a handicraft known to selected members of the community and a token of ethnic heritage. This study proposes that these traditional pastoral crafts should not be valued simply as records of the historic past. Instead, they provide essential knowledge for designing more sustainable measures in current state reforms.

Invasive Alien Species (IAS) are known to be an important driver of environmental changes, yet the social impacts of such invasions are understudied, particularly among vulnerable groups. In this article we study the ways Rabari pastoralists from Kutch (Gujarat, India) deal with the invasion of Prosopis juliflora, a widely-spread, invasive bush tree. First, we analyze how the Rabari pastoralists perceive the presence of P. juliflora among a range of environmental changes and problems they are faced with today. Second, we focus on the dynamics of their Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) system by studying the knowledge and uses that are implemented in daily interactions with the tree. Our results show that P. juliflora invasion is not perceived as a major problem by the pastoralists, despite being mostly associated with negative impacts. We relate these results to several intertwined factors, such as the importance of other changes, the shifting baseline syndrome, the adaptive capacity of LEK systems, and the slow rate of environmental change directly attributable to P. juliflora invasion. We then suggest that the ability of LEK systems to adapt to environmental change may in turn influence the perception of environmental changes, such as P. juliflora invasion.

Traditionally managed meadows and pastures are increasingly abandoned or replaced with intensively cultivated arable fields in the UK and Europe. These habitats are important reservoirs of plants valued for their medicinal properties, cultural significance, and genetic diversity. Whether grassland biodiversity will persist without human management is currently unknown. Here, I combine palaeoecological data and modern vegetation surveys to determine the origin of species-rich grassland in Oxfordshire, England and long-term temporal and spatial changes in grassland biodiversity over time. I also examine whether forage crop wild relatives, a group of plant genetic resources, are dependent upon pastoral activities. In situ and ex situ conservation of crop wild relatives is increasingly important because they provide plant breeders with novel sources of genetic diversity to adapt crops to changing climate conditions. I demonstrate that species-rich grasslands only developed around 2000 years ago due to anthropogenic intervention and would revert to oscillating between open grassland and woodland without human management. Temporally and spatially, high levels of biodiversity are associated with the creation of species-rich grasslands. These areas are still hotspots of vegetation diversity today and wild relatives of forage grasses and legumes are closely linked to these areas. I argue that conservation activities should focus their attention on species-rich grasslands located in areas of long-term biodiversity, allowing other sites to revert, and that future research could focus on monitoring, characterizing, and collecting plant genetic resources from these sites.