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Freshwater fish are in a perilous state with more than 30% of species considered critically endangered. Yet significant ecological and methodological complexities constrain our ability to determine how disturbances are impacting native fish communities. We review current methods used to assess the responses of fish communities, especially native fish, to disturbances, with a focus on lakes. These methods include contemporary population surveys, manipulative experimental approaches, paleolimnological approaches and Indigenous Knowledge and social histories. We identify knowledge gaps, such as a lack of baseline data for native fish, an inability to assess the impact of historical disturbances, stressor response dynamics in contemporary multi‐stressor environments, and natural disturbance regimes. Our assessment of the current methods highlights challenges to filling these knowledge gaps using the reviewed methods. We advocate strongly for the implementation of an integrative approach that combines emerging technologies (i.e. molecular‐based techniques in contemporary surveys and paleolimnology) and underutilised knowledge streams (i.e. Indigenous Knowledge and social histories) which should be used in concert with conventional methods. This integrative approach will allow researchers to determine the key drivers of decline and the degree of change, which will enable more informed and successful management actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigenous Knowledge can be defined as expertise, skills, practices, ideas, experiences and information gained over a long period, sustained and passed on from generation to generation orally within a community in a particular geographic area, often forming part of its culture. The Sundarbans, the largest remaining tract of coastal mangrove wetlands in the world are surrounded by rivers, rivulets, and creeks pushing the islanders to pursue fishing as a source of subsistence. The present paper has sought to understand how the fishing community of the Sundarbans draws upon his repertoire of knowledge and beliefs to cope with the world in which it finds itself. This has required an understanding of not only the Sundarban's natural world, but its geomorphology, hydrology and also the social world--the people, economy, administration, and governance. Using the ethnographic method, this empirical study deals with the fishers' means and measures i.e. beliefs, cognitive elements, and techniques--while often preserving the traditional fabric, have evolved with time. This unique and effective indigenous knowledge needs to be conserved. Documentation of the existing valid indigenous knowledge with fishers' perception as well as scientific rationale will help in adoption and further improvement to fulfil the present need of the people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Western epistemologies on race defined blackness and indigeneity through scales of poverty, or more precisely, in frameworks privileging economic deprivation. Indigenous fishing communities are typically constructed as subsistence fishers whose practices only served to exacerbate resource scarcity as a result. I present a case study of the Gullah Geechee, self-defined as culturally indigenous and racially black, to explore how consciousness, indigenous knowledge, and cultural practices allow access to resources that enable them to achieve a level of autonomy. I draw on the livelihoods of three fishers, ranging from familial to commercial, to examine how the power of giving, through the cultural practices of reciprocity, sharing, and cooperation, yield abundances vital to building a sense of community. I suggest that indigenous ontologies offer alternate ways to conceptualize indigeneity in the Americas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

River systems globally are experiencing social-ecological changes that often impact Indigenous fishing practices, including climate change and resource developments. We explore the relationship between access to fish and well-being, and the determinants of access to fish amidst changing social-ecological conditions through interviews with 29 individuals across four Gwich'in First Nation communities in Canada's Northwest Territories. Our interviews show that socioeconomic and environmental barriers are making it harder to access fish and that this has negative implications for well-being. Despite these barriers, access to fish continues to make positive, diverse contributions to well-being in Gwich'in communities through socioeconomic factors such as sharing networks and adaptive practices that are often part of ecological monitoring and land-based education and facilitate access to fish. Increasing our understanding of the relationship between access to fish and well-being, and determinants of access to fish, can contribute to land-based programs, land-use planning, and decision-making in Gwich'in territory and other river systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]