Knowledge from Below. Traditional Indigenous Knowledge on Watery Environments as Innovative Sustainable Solution to the Challenges of Modernity

Watery environments are special spaces necessitating peculiar knowledge to be profitably habitable by humans. In aquatic territories, inhabitants have always needed to develop the adaptive knowledge for the constant modifications of human settlements; consequently knowledge, environment and infrastructures development have long been entangled. Among the many complex human-environmentnature entanglement, in watery places local people developed a great variety of types of fishing techniques. Fishing can be defined as a form of domestication that allows communities to prove their own special skill, which are productive, cultural, and social. These special skills are very refined as the watery environment is not visually perceptible. Most recent scientific literature ignores locals' relationship and knowledge about water. In European Western vision, aquatic space is generally perceived as flat and homogeneous surface extraneous to humans and mostly dangerous. On the contrary, during my researches on small scale fishing in upper Adriatic Sea, in Venetian Lagoon, and in North France Atlantic Sea, I focused on knowledge "from below", i.e. bringing attention to the traditional indigenous knowledge on waters and seabed. I discover that local people and primarily fishers contest the mainstream approach to reefs. Fishers perceive watery spaces like an extension of their inhabited mainland and a bridge between dry lands. They know special liquid spaces through detailed three-dimensional mental maps which include in-depth knowledge of what lies beneath the surface. The acquisition of knowledge takes place thanks to a network of interactions built with the watery environment:the human components and the non-human ones that coexist in/under the water. This complexity of human/non-human relationship entangled together generates sustainable patterns - a concept that should be understood as including socio-cultural, economic and natural dimensions - environmentally friendly knowledge, and foster good practices. As stated by the SDGs agenda, and as I was able to observe during my fieldworks, water traditional indigenous knowledge can teach new strategies to maintain a good ecological and environmental balance. Its valorization can contribute to actively involving local communities to protect and value the cultural and natural heritage. How to strengthen and promote the value of indigenous knowledge? What strategies can we adopt to improve the dialog between different forms of knowledge? This paper based on my anthropological research with Venetian fishing communities will present some relevant case studies to underline the value of "knowledge from below" as possible solution to sustainable management of delicate watery ecosystems, one of the great challenges of modernity. By bringing the voices to local communities and fishers, I will present my interdisciplinary research experiences with hard sciences to improve constructive dialogs between different knowledge.