Thousands of years of maritime culture, and generations of fishermen out at sea build up a vast and unique folkloric form of science that could soon be lost forever if we do not take action to value it and preserve it.
“Chinese fishermen say that when the stars twinkle, it is the wind that is trying to blow them out. And since it doesn’t achieve to, the next day it comes down to blow on the sea and sailing boats”.
Combining this folkloric science with modern day science of oceanography or the tracking of great pelagics can be fascinating and useful to solve some of the questions of science.
But the main reason for valuing fishermen as scientists is the fact that they are out at sea all the time on vessels that can become opportunistic data recording platforms.
