antropikos

Vanishing Fish es una de las últimas obras del oceanógrafo Daniel Pauly (2019), un trabajo de gran importancia que amerita leerse. Como parte de los trabajos del Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios del Litoral (CIEL), hemos escrito un artículo que gira en torno a ese libro y entra en varios debates con asuntos que Pauly maneja y que entiende que las ciencias sociales no los han atendido como merecen. Discrepo de ello, intento demostrar las fisuras en ese análisis, y proveo algunas pistas para resolverlo y arrojar un poco de luz sobre el trabajo que hacemos quienes nos dedicamos a las pesquerías desde las ciencias humanas. Es un trabajo preliminar, por lo que hay espacio para debate, anotaciones y correcciones. Por ende, los comentarios son bienvenidos.

I DO NOT KNOW MUCH ABOUT HISTORY: OCEANOGRAPHERS, ANTHROPOLOGISTS, HISTORIANS AND THE VANISHING FISH

Abstract: This paper presents a critical analysis of the fundamental tenets of Daniel Pauly’s book Vanishing Fish: Shifting Baselines and the Future of Global Fisheries (2019). The book covers a long history of research and hypotheses on the development of global fisheries, paying attention to what he calls the “toxic triad,”—the process of geographical, bathymetric, and taxonomic expansion of fishers’ firms, from small-scale to industrial fleets. At the core of the analysis is a plea for the engagement of oceanographers in historical ecology as the key methodological tool to understand present-day fisheries. Pauly argues that social sciences are an important ally in fisheries sciences, but the effort of these disciplines falls short by avoiding certain important topics, emphasizing in community (ethnographic) studies and not providing information on the fishers’ catch, which is critical for management and conservation. This paper refutes his argument and contextualizes the role of ecological history and the social sciences in fisheries sciences, without minimizing the importance of Pauly’s contribution to the field. 

Keywords: Fisheries; Ecological History; Toxic Triad; Shifting Baselines; World-Ecology; Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management