Interdisciplinary Science and Fishers’ Local Ecological Knowledge of Sawfishes in the Yucatán Peninsula

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Past Human-Shark Interactions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Knowledge of sawfishes is still scant for Latin America. Pristis pristis (largetooth sawfish) and Pristis pectinata (smallthooth sawfish) are critically endangered. In the Yucatán Peninsula (YP) these species populated coastal landscapes. We collected 290 surveys of fishers’ Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) with a geospatial component and reviewed 74 literature sources and available archaeological data for the region. Results show the common past presence of sawfishes, their cultural significance for coastal societies, the contemporary absence of sawfishes in coastal areas where they historically existed, sightings of juveniles were only documented by elder fishers, and only two recent narratives mention sawfishes caught incidentally five years ago. Geospatial results prove 52 geographic sites where sawfishes were common in the YP. Results support the development of interdisciplinary research methodologies to study human-nature interactions through time. This matters in the YP, where sociocultural values and landscapes have changed rapidly by increasing tourism development and human migration. This information can help conservation managers understand the past presence and contemporary loss of sawfishes and their habitat and contribute to understanding defaunation of megafauna in the YP. This is critical for tourism and fisheries’ ecosystem services on which communities of the YP rely for subsistence.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Past Human-Shark Interactions   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38370.0