Fish identification course for fisheries law enforcement officers:

Communicating scientific principles and methods where none existed

Ofer Gon, Gavin Gouws and Monica Mwale

South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, Private Bag 1015,

Grahamstown 6140, South Africa

The Learners

DEAT fisheries law enforcement officers

Age group: 23-39

Education: Matric certificate with little or no knowledge of biology

Job description – Why do the course?

Enforcing fishing regulations (Marine Living Resource Act) through:

1. beach patrols

2. Boat inspections

Testifying in court cases of illegal fishers and poachers

Must be able to identify the fishes and defend the identification in court

Course objectives Learning the different parts (morphology) of the body of the fish

Learning to take counts and measurements from a fish specimens and how they are used

Fish Morphology

Course objectives

Understanding certain concepts, eg, scientific names, classification

Argyrosomus japonicus

Carcharias taurus

Classification

Family: Sciaenidae

Genus: Argyrosomus

Species: japonicus

Scientific Names

Course objectives

Learning about and using identification keys – Biological similarity

Course programme

Tour of SAIAB and the fish collection

Internet and library resources

Fish morphology and its methodology

Working with specimens - practical

Day 1

Course programme

The marine environment

Fish systematics (names and classification)

Identification keys and how they work

Fish identification - practical

Day 2

Course programme

The coelacanth story

Fish identification – practical

Practical test

Days 3 & 4

Questionnaire resultsClass 1 (n=10) Class 2 (n=8) Class 3 (n=8) Class 4 (n=9) Total %

Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No

Met expectations 8 1 7 1 8 7 2 88.2 11.8

Objectives achieved 9 1 8 8 9 97.1 2.9

Lectures, etc. relevant to course

9 1 8 8 8 1 94.3 5.7

Contents relevant 10 100

Understanding of concepts

9 8 8 8.5 0.5 98.5 1.5

Difficulty to understand material

2 6 8 6 3 32 68

Gaining knowledge on their own

10 8 8 9 100

Conducive atmosphere

9 7 1 8 7 2 91.2 8.8

Recommend course to colleagues

9 1 8 8 8 1 94.3 5.7Lab chairs uncomfortable, sensitivity to alcohol fumes

Too scientific, a lot of terminology, course too short

Expected learning about particular species

Course highlights

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Mic

rosc

ope

Inte

rnet

Species

ID

Lecture

rs

Species

div

ersi

ty

Morp

hology

Curatio

n

Coelac

anth

New c

oncepts

Class 4

Class 3

Class 2

Class 1

Course experience

0

5

10

15

20

Bad OK

Usefu

l

Good

Excel

lent

Class 4

Class 3

Class 2

Class 1

Many learners expressed a wish for more courses

Teachers’ observations Learners had inadequate skills in maths – could not calculate percentages without assistance and did not understand proportions

They were weak in terms English language reading and comprehension, and general knowledge

They had a difficulty with abstract thinking and little analytical skill (at least partly due to language)

These weaknesses required much teacher – learner interaction

Nevertheless, they were generally highly motivated to increase their knowledge practical skills

Conclusions By their own admission, the learners acquired a lot of new knowledge, but they will need more practical experience under supervision to become proficient and confident in fish identification

Considering their educational background, the novelty of the subject and the duration of the course the learners performed well

There is a need to develop a more user-friendly fish identification tool

Acknowledgements

We thank management, and members of staff of SAIAB and DEAT for their assistance and support in running the fish identification courses.