Participatory monitoring introduced in southern Chile octopus fishery, with Ancud fishers sharing experience

On October 19, Chile's Fisheries Development Institute (IFOP) and Austral University of Chile (UACh) held a workshop in Ancud with local artisanal fishers to analyze the results of a participatory monitoring project. The initiative aimed to assess the feasibility of incorporating fishers' own knowledge into the management and co-management of the southern octopus (pulpo del sur) fishery.

The workshop falls within the framework of the "Participatory Monitoring of Commercial Species in Small-Scale Fisheries (Scientist/Fisher) 2025–2026" project, organized jointly by the Fisheries Research Program of UACh's Puerto Montt campus and IFOP, and was the closing activity for this phase of the project. The initiative is being carried out in the context of the Chile–Mexico cooperation project "Strengthening Capacities for Co-Management of Small-Scale Fisheries, Contributing to Public Policy in Mexico and Chile," funded by the Chilean International Cooperation Agency for Development (AGCID).

The event was held at a hotel in Ancud and brought together researchers, academics, officials and artisanal fishers. The main results obtained from data collected by participating fishers themselves during the project were presented and analyzed, along with discussion of the feasibility of implementing participatory monitoring in the southern octopus fishery in Ancud Bay and fishers' views on its usefulness and the conditions required for implementation.

Speaking after the event, IFOP senior researcher Nancy Barahona Toledo said the activity reflected fishers' commitment and active engagement in information generation and participation in fishery management decisions. She noted that those who work directly in the fishing grounds are a fundamental source of information and possess valuable experiential and practical knowledge about the resource and the fishery, and that combining this knowledge with scientific knowledge is essential to advancing Chile's fishery co-management process.

Thamara Matamala, a researcher with the UACh Fisheries Research Program who led the practical session of the workshop, said: "In Ancud we worked with artisanal fishers who volunteered to participate in octopus fishing, carrying out a participatory diagnosis to assess the feasibility of implementing monitoring." She added that the session allowed the team to "learn about their motivations and incentives for participating in these practices, because we want to understand how these processes can strengthen fisher participation and influence co-management and decision-making regarding their resources."

Ancud artisanal diver Fernando Astorga said fishers and shellfish divers "provided strategic information on the locations where octopus has been fished over time, and we were able to make recordings, take photos and provide day-to-day information." He said: "Participatory monitoring is useful both for the project's technical staff and for artisanal fishers. I think it is very important to participate in research on all the products involved, given the experience of artisanal fishing and the years spent working at sea."

Also attending the workshop were Dr. Carlos Molinet, Jorge Henríquez and Thamara Matamala of the UACh Fisheries Research Program; Germán Barrientos, professor of IT engineering at DUOC; Nancy Barahona and Pablo Araya of IFOP; Martina Delgado of the Undersecretariat of Fisheries; and artisanal octopus fishers from Ancud.