In the land of the Mermaid: How culture, not ecology, influenced marine mammal exploitation in the Southeastern Caribbean

Abstract

Although some progress has been made toward a better understanding of marine mammal utilization in the Southeastern Caribbean, no comparative analysis has been carried out to see how such practices originated, developed, and finally impacted the marine mammal populations in that region. We conducted field and archival studies for Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Barbados, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. We analyzed records of whaling, dolphin fisheries, and manatee exploitation for those countries, interviewed local fishers, and explored the remains of whaling stations in each area. Our results show that each of these countries developed a different pattern of whale and dolphin exploitation, but similar patterns of utilizing manatees. We conclude that these five neighboring countries, although sharing essentially the same marine mammal species, developed different exploitation practices in terms of species targeted, capture techniques, and time periods in which that exploitation took place, due to different cultural circumstances. © 2005 Springer.