Caught in memory
نویسنده
چکیده
The traveller, George Shelvocke, sailing along the coast of South America in 1718, wrote: " whales, grampuses, and other fish of a monstrous bulk, are in such numbers off the coast of Patagonia that they were really offensive to us very often. For they would come sometimes so close to us as to stifle us with their stench when they blew, and would lie so near us that I have frequently thought it impossible to escape striking upon them on every send of a sea. " It is easy in the present day, when the sighting of a single whale during a sea crossing can be notable, to dismiss such accounts as implausible or unbelievable. But is this the result of our own impoverished view of the current environment and an inability to appreciate the abundance and diversity of ecosystems in the past? Proceedings of the Royal Society series B (published online) a study of people's memories of the fishery in the Gulf of California, where fish populations have declined steeply over the past 60 years. The aim was to assess whether people's perception of the environment had changed over time, creating a shifting baseline for ecological and biodiversity studies that diminishes awareness of the true potential of various sites. The team interviewed fishermen in the region in three age ranges; young (15–30 years old), middle-aged (31–54 years old) and old (more than 55 years old). The team asked them to name species and places they considered to have been depleted by fishing. The results revealed that most fishermen considered that fishing had led to the depletion of some species and sites. The median number of species mentioned by the older group was eleven, the middle aged mentioned seven and the young fishermen, two. As older fishermen had had more opportunity to see species loss, the researchers calculated the rates of loss over time. The results revealed no decline in species loss. Older fishermen mentioned several species that they believed were once abundant but " by contrast middle-aged fishers showed less appreciation of past abundances and few young fishers seemed aware that such species had ever been common, " the team report. " It is evident that baselines shift rapidly even among people whose occupations bring them into daily contact with nature, " the team says. " Such rapid shifts help explain why human societies are so tolerant to the …
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ورودعنوان ژورنال:
- Current Biology
دوره 15 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2005