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BACKGROUND: Hybridization between the local medical systems (LMSs) and biomedicine has been the focus of different studies in ethnobiology, primarily due to the increasing access to biomedicine by indigenous peoples and local communities. Studies on hybridization allow for an understanding of the process of developing and evolving local knowledge systems. In this study, we propose a hybridization score to determine how individuals' socioeconomic characteristics and preference between LMS and biomedicine determine the complementarity of therapeutic options. METHODS: We conducted semistructured interviews and applied free listing technique in a rural community in Northeast Brazil to assess the treatments the local population sought and which were preferred. RESULTS: Our analyses showed that the level of schooling was the socioeconomic factor that negatively affected the hybridization process. Individuals with higher levels of schooling tended to prefer LMS strategies less and, consequently, showed a lower probability of hybridizing the two systems. Additionally, older people who preferred LMS strategies showed a greater tendency to adopt hybridization in human health-seeking behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide further evidence of the complementarity between different medical systems and demonstrate that socioeconomic factors can affect local knowledge and are responsible for differences in individual propensity to hybridize distinct medical systems.

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BACKGROUND: The complex interplay of social and environmental factors shapes ecosystems, potentially leading to harmony or conflict, highlighting the importance of understanding these dynamics for coexistence. In developing countries, firewood serves as a primary energy source and plays a role in cultural-religious rituals and festivities. However, the specific patterns of woody species used for the latter remain poorly understood, including the impact of access restrictions to resources and local bans on practices. Therefore, our research focuses on examining how access restrictions to forest resources and bonfire bans due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) impact the cultural-religious tradition of bonfire making during Festas Juninas (June festivities) in northeastern Brazil. METHODS: Ethnobotanical fieldwork was conducted in two rural populations in northeastern Brazil between 2021 and 2022. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, observations, and the guided tour technique. The cultural-religious tradition of bonfire making (i.e., richness of native and exotic firewood species, firewood volume, and the number of bonfires related to this practice) was compared between populations (i.e., differing in access restrictions) and years (i.e., differing in COVID-19-related bans) using Mann-Whitney U tests. RESULTS: Results revealed significant differences in the richness of native (p value = 0.001) and exotic (p value < 0.001) firewood species for bonfire making due to access restrictions to forest resources. The number of native species used was higher among the population residing in the area with unrestricted access than among those with restricted access, while a greater number of exotic species was used in the population with restricted access. The rest of the variables were not influenced by access restrictions, and no variables were influenced by COVID-19 bans. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that access restrictions to forest resources, rather than COVID-19 bans, drive the selection of firewood species for bonfires during Festas Juninas in northeastern Brazil. In addition, as populations remain deeply entrenched in cultural-religious practices amid temporary bans imposed by health crises, there is a pressing need for culturally sensitive environmental policies. Fostering socio-ecological resilience demands a comprehensive approach that encompasses not only environmental factors but also cultural dimensions, which wield a pivotal influence on long-term sustainability.

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Fishing is one of the main threats to sea turtles due to the risk of entanglement in lost nets, vessel collision and mortality due to incidental catches. In Brazil, most of the studies regarding fishing interactions with sea turtles are focused on pelagic longline fisheries in the South and Southeast regions. However, their main reproductive areas in Southwest Atlantic RMU occur in Northeast Brazil, which overlaps small-scale coastal gillnet fisheries. Here, we aimed to use ethnobiology and participatory approaches as simple and cost-effective methods to identify areas for sea turtle conservation where impacts from small-scale fisheries are most likely. Expert captains were trained to recording sea turtle sightings during navigations from the landing port to the fishing grounds, informing their folk nomenclatures. By interpolation of environmental data (chlorophyll and bathymetry) and ecological data, we predicted habitats of 3,459.96 km² for Caretta caretta, Chelonia mydas, and Eretmochelys imbricata and fishing zones of 1,087 km² for management in 20 m and 50 m depths. Our results contributes to ongoing discussions of bycatch mitigation for sea turtle species and identification of habitats. We highlights the importance of considering particularities of overlapped areas in marine spatial planning and co-management arrangements.

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The practice of consuming wild fauna in Brazil is both culturally and socioeconomically questionable. Wild animals and their byproducts are sought for nutritional, medicinal, and/or supernatural reasons, with some taxa (e.g., songbirds) being kept as pets. This practice is concentrated in traditional and rural communities, as well as the rural exodus populations in large urban centers, maintained both by cultural preferences and for their role in food safety in part of the rural exodus community. A total of 564 taxa are known to be sold in wet markets in Brazil, with birds, fish, and mammals being the most commonly listed. There is great zoonotic outbreak potential in this consumption chain given the diversity of species involved (with several listed being known reservoirs of zoonotic pathogens), invasion of wild environments for hunting, unsanitary processing of carcasses, and consumption of most/all biotopes of the animal, as well as the creation of favorable conditions to cross-species pathogen transmission. Given its socioeconomic situation and the global trends in disease emergence, there is a risk of the future emergence of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in Brazil through wildlife consumption.

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BACKGROUND: Local medical systems (LMS) include native and exotic plants used for the treatment of diseases of physical and spiritual nature. The incorporation of exotic plants into these systems has been the subject of many studies. In this context, an analysis was conducted on the influence of the origin of plants on diseases of physical and spiritual nature in order to evaluate the therapeutic versatility of native and exotic species in these therapeutic targets, to investigate whether exotic plants mainly fill gaps not met by native plants (diversification hypothesis), and identify which species are prioritized in the redundant targets in these two therapeutic groups in the rural community of Morrinhos, Monsenhor Hipólito, Piauí. METHODS: Data collection took place in 2 stages. First, free lists and semi-structured interviews with local residents (n = 134) were conducted to survey plants used for therapeutic purposes and the associated illnesses. Then, another phase of interviews was carried out to evaluate the prioritization between native and exotic plants in redundant therapeutic targets. To test the diversification hypothesis (DH) in each group of illnesses, data were analyzed using generalized linear models (Poisson and Binomial GLMs); versatility was measured by the number of therapeutic indications and compared between resources using the Mann-Whitney test, and prioritization in each group was verified by comparing the proportions of native and exotic plants with the χ2 test. RESULTS: One hundred and thirty-two species of plants were surveyed, being 71 exotic and 61 native, with indications for physical and spiritual illnesses. The results revealed that the diversification hypothesis did not explain the inclusion of exotic plants in the local medical system to treat physical or spiritual illnesses and that the therapeutic versatility of exotic and native resources in the two groups was also similar (p > 0.05). However, exotic plants were prioritized in illnesses with physical causes and native plants in illnesses with spiritual causes. CONCLUSIONS: The local medical system presents similar and distinct patterns in the therapeutic targets, depending on the perspective evaluated. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the patterns of use of medicinal plants in different sociocultural contexts in order to broaden the debate about the role of plant origin in the selection of treatments for illnesses with different causes.

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Ethnobiology and ethnomedicine, traditionally descriptive disciplines chronicling Indigenous People and Local Community (IPLC) practices, face the challenge of incorporating hypothesis-driven research to address contemporary issues. This paper argues for a synergistic approach where both approaches are valued for their unique contributions to understanding human-nature interactions and informing policy.

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In 2023, the Japanese migration to Brazil completed 115 years. However, the first time Japanese people arrived in Brazil and left a testimony of their experience was about two centuries ago. Their reports were registered in a historical document, handwritten during the Edo period when Japan was adopting a closed-door policy. The episode of their visit to Brazil is only a small part of the odyssey of these four Japanese sailors who departed from Ishinomiya to Tokyo at the end of the 18th century, but unexpectedly traveled around the globe. After a storm, they were adrift for six months until shipwrecking on the Aleutian Islands; from the Russian Aleutian Islands, they crossed the whole of Russia and boarded, in Saint Petersburg, on the first Russian expedition to circumnavigate the world. Their only stop in South America was at Santa Catarina Island, southern Brazil, and this is the first analysis of this episode from an ethnobiological perspective. Their reports described both the forest environment and the plants they observed and included at least 23 taxa of plants, mostly cultivated. These descriptions of plants and the environment are in contrast with other reports from the same period and to the current environment found in Santa Catarina Island, inspiring reflections on the construction of Brazil's image in Japan before the 20th century.

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Local medical systems (LMSs) are complex and dynamic, encompassing local perceptions of diseases, prevention and treatment strategies, and evaluations of therapeutic responses. These systems are not isolated and interact with other medical systems, such as the biomedical system. The interaction between these systems creates a "contact zone", which some authors refer to as intermedicality, involving both competitive and complementary interactions. However, there is limited discussion in the literature regarding the complexity of these interactions. Some studies seek to understand this interaction through the lens of hybridization, a concept introduced to ethnobiology by Ana Ladio and Ulysses Albuquerque. The authors conceptualize hybridization as "discrete structures and practices coming together to form a new practice not necessarily implying homogenization." They discuss hybridization in the context of medicinal plants used in urban settings and propose seven hybridization subprocesses to gain a deeper understanding of this phenomenon. In this study, we update these hybridization subprocesses, expanding the concepts to comprehend the specific interaction of resources from LMS and biomedical systems known and used by different human groups. In this context, we propose a new subprocess and have made adjustments to the existing subprocesses to encompass the diversity of possible interactions between medicinal plants and pharmaceuticals, providing evidence from the literature demonstrating interactions that can be classified within the proposed subprocesses. Furthermore, we discuss, from a theoretical standpoint, how these subprocesses may have implications for the resilience of medical systems. Moreover, we propose a flowchart that can be utilized to identify these hybridization subprocesses in intermedicality contexts in future studies. These classifications are crucial because they enable us to comprehend the complexity of interactions between medicinal plants and pharmaceuticals, as well as the impacts that these different interactions can have on the resilience of LMSs.

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Contemporary ethnobiologists employ the biocultural approach to different contexts and countries, and they seek to describe the relationship between biological and cultural diversity. For Latin American researchers, this approach is particularly interesting from a critical standpoint. We offer a review of the concept of "biocultural", departing from Mexican ethnobiologist contributions. Later, we analyze different uses of this concept in several regional meetings, including the SOLAE Congress of 2015 in Colombia, the SOLAE Congress of 2017 in Ecuador, and the SOLAE Congress of 2019 in Bolivia. Likewise, we reflect on the 2018 congress at Belém do Pará, Brazil, which commemorated the creation of the ISE there thirty years earlier. We argue that the importance of the biocultural approach becomes influential insofar as non-academic and academic people meet and promote Latin American discussion in terms of local realities.

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BACKGROUND: Stingless bees have a great value as main pollinators of wild flowering and cultivated plants, thus playing a fundamental role in the maintenance of biodiversity and food security in Latin America. Despite their importance, stingless bees face numerous threats causing alarming population declines. Moreover, stingless bees have a great cultural and traditional value, since most products from the hive are used for a wide variety of purposes. A growing number of initiatives are encouraging the breeding of these bees, through training courses and modern management techniques. This study documents the knowledge on stingless bees and their products that meliponiculturists from the Chaco region of Bolivia have, as well as the influence that meliponiculture initiatives have on the management and general knowledge of the bees. METHODS: Local richness and diversity of stingless bees was calculated using Hill numbers. Structured interviews were conducted with 59 meliponiculturists in order to characterize traditional and formal knowledge on stingless bees and meliponiculture. Generalized linear models were applied to assess the influence of training courses on the management of the bees. Also, a relative cultural importance index was calculated for each species. RESULTS: Twelve Meliponini species were identified, and 15 local names were reported with morphological, defensiveness behavior, and nest description. There was no significant difference in the knowledge between different ethnical backgrounds or ages. A significant difference was observed in the use of supplementary feeding and assisted division, but none in the success in racking hives or in pest management, regarding the number or courses taken. The relative cultural importance index recorded 30 specific uses for bee products grouped in four categories, from which 29 were attributed (but not exclusively) to Tetragonisca angustula, making it the most versatile species. CONCLUSIONS: The products of the hive, especially honey, are used for a wide variety of purposes, mostly in medicine. These uses are mostly attributed to just one species, T. angustula, in coincidence with what was taught in meliponiculture training courses by NGOs. The influence of formal knowledge is mostly positive, but it is recommended that other meliponini species are taken into account as well.

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The present study deals with the ethnomedicines used by migratory shepherds in an Indian Trans-Himalayan area. Shepherding depends on traditional healthcare practices. A non-probabilistic sampling technic was used for the selection of the research participants; the information was collected through 8 extensive field visits. The data was analyzed by the interpretation of the interviews since a qualitative as well as quantitative perspectives. A comparison with previous studies in the area was donebased on literature research. The results of this study show that shepherds in tribal areas are highly dependent on medicinal plants, they report the use of 58 taxa to handle their main health problems. They prefer 20 taxa, to treat; coughs, asthma, colds, throat complaints, general pain, fever, dysentery, diarrhea and urinary infections, which are the main reported illnesses. Mainly they use the fresh plant juices of these taxa. Two health issues are remarkable highblood pressure and jaundice.

El presente estudio trata sobre las etnomedicinas utilizadas por los pastores migratorios en una zona india transhimalaya. El pastoreo depende de las prácticas sanitarias tradicionales. Se utilizó una técnica de muestreo no probabilístico para la selección de los participantes de la investigación; la información se recopiló a través de 8 extensas visitas de campo. Los datos fueron analizados mediante la interpretación de las entrevistas desde una perspectiva tanto cualitativa como cuantitativa. Se realizó una comparación con estudios previos en el área basada en la investigación de la literatura. Los resultados de este estudio muestran que los pastores en áreas tribales son altamente dependientes de las plantas medicinales, informan el uso de 58 taxones para manejar sus principales problemas de salud. Prefieren 20 taxones para tratar; tos, asma, resfriados, molestias de garganta, dolor general, fiebre, disentería, diarrea e infecciones urinarias, que son las principales enfermedades reportadas. Principalmente utilizan los jugos de plantas frescas de estos taxones. Dos problemas de salud son la hipertensión arterial y la ictericia.

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BACKGROUND: Measures of the importance of medicinal plants have long been used in ethnobotany and ethnobiology to understand the influence of social-ecological system factors in the formation of individuals' differential knowledge and use. However, there is still a gap in empirical studies that seek to understand the temporal aspects of this process. METHODS: To overcome this issue, we used the concept of the structural core of medicinal plants, a theoretical-evolutionary model, which argues that the importance of medicinal plant resources is related to the increase in individual and population fitness. It represents the set of the most effective and available resources that would treat the most common diseases in an environment. This composition of knowledge would be conservative over space and time. To test these questions, we hypothesized that the composition of the structural core remains constant during temporal changes in a social-ecological context, and that the composition of the infantile structural core (new generation) is similar to that of the adults (older generation). For 2 years, we tracked the structure of important medicinal plants among the same 49 residents of a community located in Vale do Catimbau in Pernambuco, Brazil. We also compared the importance of the medicinal plants among two different generations, children/adolescents and adults, in the same space/time context. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Our results refuted both hypotheses. Regarding the composition of important medicinal plants through temporal variations and for children's learning, our results were not predicted by the model. This suggests that the structural core should not be regarded as a conservative phenomenon, but rather a congenital, dynamic, and plastic occurrence that has adapted to configure itself as a short-term population response to the treatment of local diseases.

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BACKGROUND: Traditional fishing communities are strongholds of ethnobiological knowledge but establishing to what degree they harbor cultural consensus about different aspects of this knowledge has been a challenge in many ethnobiological studies. METHODS: We conducted an ethnobiological study in an artisanal fishing community in northeast Brazil, where we interviewed 91 community members (49 men and 42 women) with different type of activities (fishers and non-fishers), in order to obtain free lists and salience indices of the fish they know. To establish whether there is cultural consensus in their traditional knowledge on fish, we engaged a smaller subset of 45 participants in triad tasks where they chose the most different fish out of 30 triads. We used the similarity matrices generated from the task results to detect if there is cultural consensus in the way fish were classified by them. RESULTS: The findings show how large is the community's knowledge of fish, with 197 ethnospecies registered, of which 33 species were detected as salient or important to the community. In general, men cited more fish than women. We also found that there was no cultural consensus in the ways fish were classified. CONCLUSIONS: Both free-listing and triad task methods revealed little cultural consensus in the way knowledge is structured and how fish were classified by community members. Our results suggest that it is prudent not to make assumptions that a given local community has a single cultural consensus model in classifying the organisms in their environment.

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Transdisciplinary research challenges the divide between Indigenous and academic knowledge by bringing together epistemic resources of heterogeneous stakeholders. The aim of this article is to explore causal explanations in a traditional fishing community in Brazil that provide resources for transdisciplinary collaboration, without neglecting differences between Indigenous and academic experts. Semi-structured interviews were carried out in a fishing village in the North shore of Bahia and our findings show that community members often rely on causal explanations for local ecological phenomena with different degrees of complexity. While these results demonstrate the ecological expertise of local community members, we also argue that recognition of local expertise needs to reflect on differences between epistemic communities by developing a culturally sensitive model of transdisciplinary knowledge negotiation.

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Background: Currently, at the global level, human food is mainly based on a few crops extensively cultivated as monocultures. Climate change, changes in land to agriculture and cattle raising, as well as the scarcity of water all affect and reduce the possibility of cultivating alternative crops. One way to face this global problem is to promote the knowledge, production and consumption of native food species on a regional scale.For this study, two databases were constructed for the Gulf of Mexico Province: 1) edible plant species with their corresponding common name, category of use, plant organ(s) utilised as food and type of management; 2) distribution records of these edible species. These species, in addition to being part of the biological diversity of Mexico are of high nutritional, cultural and gastronomical value and have been present in the diet of the inhabitants and ethnic groups in the region since pre-Hispanic times. New information: This study presents the native edible plants of the Gulf of Mexico Province, an area inhabited by 15 ethnic groups. The main novelty of this contribution is the edible plant species database, which includes the records of 482 species that belong to 101 families and 268 genera. We also present information rarely reported in an ethnobotanical inventory: 1) category of food use, 2) category of plant organ used, 3) common name, 4) type of management and 5) the georeferenced distribution of species occurrence in the Gulf of Mexico Province.

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Mexico is one of the main regions of the world where the domestication of numerous edible plant species originated. Its cuisine is considered an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and ferments are important components but have been poorly studied. Traditional fermented foods are still diverse, but some are endangered, requiring actions to promote their preservation. Our study aimed to (1) systematize information on the diversity and cultural history of traditional Mexican fermented beverages (TMFB), (2) document their spatial distribution, and (3) identify the main research trends and topics needed for their conservation and recovery. We reviewed information and constructed a database with biocultural information about TMFB prepared and consumed in Mexico, and we analyzed the information through network approaches and mapped it. We identified 16 TMFB and 143 plant species involved in their production, species of Cactaceae, Asparagaceae, and Poaceae being the most common substrates. Microbiological research has been directed to the potential biotechnological applications of Lactobacillus, Bacillus, and Saccharomyces. We identified a major gap of research on uncommon beverages and poor attention on the cultural and technological aspects. TMFB are dynamic and heterogenous foodscapes that are valuable biocultural reservoirs. Policies should include their promotion for conservation. The main needs of research and policies are discussed.

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Resumen El objetivo de este trabajo fue sistematizar las especies apropiadas, formas de apropiación y valores de uso asignados a la fauna silvestre en comunidades de la Reserva de la Biosfera Sierra de Huautla, México, mediante un análisis documental y trabajo de campo. Se registraron 46 especies con valor de uso pertenecientes a 31 familias. La clase con mayor número de especies apropiadas son las aves (42.5%), seguidas de los mamíferos (34%). El 64% de las especies se apropian con fines alimentarios y el 38.3% se utilizan para el tratamiento de enfermedades en la medicina tradicional. Otros usos son adornos, amuletos, elaboración de herramientas y como animal de compañía. La apropiación de fauna silvestre se realiza por medio de la cacería, la recolección y la pesca. Las armas de fuego como la escopeta es el principal instrumento para la cacería. También se utilizan perros, machetes, resorteras, tarrayas, anzuelos, nudos corredizos y se capturan manualmente. La apropiación puede ser una actividad oportunista u organizada por medio de las arreadas, espiadas, lampareadas, campeadas, acorralamiento y recolección manual. La apropiación de fauna silvestre es una actividad culturalmente arraigada en las comunidades de la reserva. Sin embargo, el análisis de la relación sociedad-fauna en la región es limitado, por lo que es necesario generar información que promueva el manejo sostenible del recurso faunístico.

Abstract The aims of this paper were the systematization of appropriated species, appropriation forms and assigned use values of wildlife species in the Biosphere Reserve of the Sierra de Huautla, Mexico, by means of documentary analysis and field work. We recorded 46 species with use value pertaining to 31 families. Birds accounted for the highest number of appropriated species (42.5%), followed by mammals (34%). Of the total species, 64% are appropriated for alimentary purposes and are used in the treatment of diseases in traditional medicine. Others are used as ornaments, talismans, in tool manufacture and as pet animals. Wildlife appropriation is achieved by hunting, collection and fishing. Fire arms such as shotguns are the main instrument used in hunting. Dogs, machetes, slingshots, nets, hooks, slipknots, are also used, or they are captured by hand. Appropriation can be an opportunistic or organized activity by means of "arreadas" (herding), "espiadas" (opportunistic observation), "lampareadas" (spotlighting), "campeadas" (scouring), "acorralamiento" (cornering) and manual collection. Wildlife appropriation is a culturally rooted activity in the reserve communities. Nevertheless, the analysis of the relationship society-fauna in the region is limited and this is why the generation of information that may enable a sustainable management of the faunistic resource is necessary.

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BACKGROUND: The free list, also written "freelist", or "free recall", is an ethnographic method that characterizes the local knowledge of a population about a given cultural domain. However, there is still much to elucidate about the variables that can influence the number of items that participants cite using this technique. This study applied a casual-comparative experimental design to analyze whether 3 months' time, age, and external stimuli influence the similarity of plant free lists applied at different times. METHODS: Data was collected from 103 farmers from the rural community Alto dos Canutos, in the municipality of Picos, Piauí state, Brazil. Two free lists were conducted at two different times, with an interval of three months between them. Subsequently, the similarity between the first and second free lists of each participant was calculated using the Jaccard Similarity Index. The generalized linear model (GLM) with binomial errors and stepwise approach was used to analyze the effects of age and external stimuli on information collection when comparing free lists applied at different times. RESULTS: Participants' age influenced the information that the free lists collected, demonstrating that the older the participants, the lower the similarity among the free lists. Among the external stimuli analyzed, only the presence of third parties influenced the content of the free lists at the time of the interview. However, contrary to expectations, third-party presence positively influenced the similarity of the lists. CONCLUSION: The results show that the studied variables age and third-party presence can influence the capture of knowledge. These findings warrant future research into the influences' causes and their potential mitigation, e.g., by isolation or by breaking the medicinal plant domain into focused sub-domains and conducting simpler, successive free-lists, which can mitigate memory issues.

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Ethnonutrition is the study of diets in the context of food systems of different peoples and cultures. Its scope comprises native or local categories used to classify food, and also includes biodiverse food availability, local culinary techniques, seasonality, and cultural perceptions related to diet with nutritional implications. Here, we describe a method useful for gathering ethnonutrition data to design dietary interventions or assessments, the Rapid Ethnonutrition Assessment (REA). REA is a tool that offers food and nutrition research a broad biocultural view of diets, considering food system-level, by prototyping dietary assessments with high efficiency. This method permits us to prevent misinterpretations that lead to wrong conclusions in nutritional research.

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Deriving robust historical population trends for long-lived species subject to human exploitation is challenging in scenarios where long-term scientific data are scarce or unavailable, as often occurs for species affected by small-scale fisheries and subsistence hunting. The importance of Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) in data-poor scenarios is increasingly recognized in conservation, both in terms of uncovering historical trends and for engaging community stewardship of historic information. Building on previous work in marine historical ecology and local ecological knowledge, we propose a mixed socio-ecological framework to reliably document and quantify LEK to reconstruct historical population trends. Our method can be adapted by interdisciplinary teams to study various long-lived taxa with a history of human use. We demonstrate the validity of our approach by reconstructing long-term abundance data for the heavily-exploited East Pacific green turtle (Chelonia mydas) in Baja California, Mexico, which was driven to near extinction by a largely unregulated fishery from the early 1950s to the 1980s. No scientific baseline abundance data were available for this time-frame because recent biological surveys started in 1995 after all green turtle fisheries in the area were closed. To fill this data gap, we documented LEK among local fishers using ethnographic methods and obtained verified, qualitative data to understand the socio-environmental complexity of the green turtle fishery. We then established an iterative framework to synthesize and quantify LEK using generalized linear models (GLMs) and nonlinear regression (NLR) to generate a standardized, LEK-derived catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) time-series. CPUE is an index of abundance that is compatible with contemporary scientific survey data. We confirmed the accuracy of LEK-derived CPUE estimates via comparisons with fisheries statistics available for 1962-1982. We then modeled LEK-derived abundance trends prior to 1995 using NLR. Our model established baseline abundance and described historical declines, revealing that the most critical (exponential) decline occurred between 1960 and 1980. This robust integration of LEK data with ecological science is of critical value for conservation and management, as it contributes to a holistic view of a species' historic and contemporary conservation status.