Experience Based Knowledge in a Science Policy Context

In recent decades the roles of ‘lay experts' as sources of information useful to policy have been recognized and subjected to scrutiny, criticism, and advocacy. This study examined the role of such "experience-based knowledge" (EBK) in a domain - marine fisheries management - where non-scientists have substantial knowledge about natural and technical systems that derives from their occupations. The question to be examined was what are the implications of this storehouse of experience-based knowledge for the development of science-based policy? This question was addressed through a comparative study that examined various concrete approaches to public participation, e.g. advisory panels, public fora, that were currently used in the management of Atlantic cod fisheries in New England, Canada and the European Union.

Coordinator: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey