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Abstract:
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"When the knowledge of people is neither fully understood nor properly interpreted, it is unlikely to be used for making decisions that help the same people. This is obvious. But to suggest that peoples knowledge, because it is oral, may not thus be abstracted or conserved may not be very accurate description of reality in certain parts of the world. Doug is right when he observes, holding tacit, oral, or anecdotal knowledge rather than discursive, written, or systematic knowledge can mean real disadvantages for the people. But then sometimes disadvantage is mutual. The pressure under which scientists have to declare a given state of fisheries in an uncertain world as stable, is neither systematic, nor discursive. It is simply opportunistic. And opportunism is not some thing that only local communities thus indulge in."
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