Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) has developed a new tool that captures anglers' knowledge and hands-on experience to help track changes in fish stocks and ecosystems. The new method is called FLEKSI, which stands for Fisher's Local Ecological Knowledge Surveillance Indicators.
How FLEKSI works:
- You are asked to record how many years you have been angling on Lough Sheelin. It is very important that you answer this question as accurately as you can.
- Each FLEKSI question asks you to compare an aspect of the fishery system ‘NOW’ with how you remember it ‘THEN’, i.e., when you FIRST STARTED angling on Lough Sheelin.
- The FLEKSI questions request a response on a 5-point scale from ‘Strongly disagree’ to ‘Strongly agree’.
- Your responses are plotted with those of other respondents to build a picture of anglers' overall perception of how your fishery has changed over time.
FLEKSI provides you with an opportunity to support participatory monitoring and management of this important trout fishery. It acknowledges that local ecological knowledge accumulated by anglers is meaningful and valuable. Lough Sheelin has a long history of collaborative research, with strong ecological changes over the last 40 years, making it an exciting place to see how the local knowledge of anglers can help fisheries management.
Please try to give us your best answer to ALL the following questions.