Local ecological knowledge (LEK) represents an important link between resource users and their social-ecological system and plays a key role regarding the sustainable planning of environmental resources. This study investigates the nature of LEK in the case of a fishing village at the Tam Giang Lagoon in central Vietnam by applying an ethnographic participant observer approach. The research demonstrates a means to understand a complex, self-organized local network with a multitude of actors with different interests and adaptive behaviors, interfering in diverse and sometimes contradictory ways in the same environmental context. It concludes with two understandings about LEK. (1) It is important to recognize it as a concept that is not fixed in time and space as it is coevolving with broader system changes. (2) Only if approached through careful immersion and participation at the local level can it provide a valuable source of science-based information for improved decision-making.

本地生态知识（LEK）代表了资源使用者与其社会生态系统之间的重要联系，并在可持续规划环境资源方面发挥着关键作用。这项研究通过采用人种学参与者观察者方法，调查了越南中部Tam Giang泻湖的一个渔村中LEK的性质。该研究表明了一种理解复杂的，自组织的本地网络的方法，该网络具有众多具有不同兴趣和适应性行为的参与者，并且在相同的环境中以多种，有时是相互矛盾的方式进行干预。最后，对LEK有两种理解。（1）重要的是要认识到它是一个在时间和空间上不固定的概念，因为它正在与更广泛的系统变化一起发展。