Globally, the governance and management of land and sea resources by Indigenous peoples and local communities has existed for tens of thousands of years and continues to exert influence over a quarter of the worlds’ surface today (Garnett et al 2018). Yet the primacy of Western science still overshadows the bio-cultural knowledges of Indigenous peoples and local communities. To move beyond exclusions and disenfranchised worldviews, science theory and practice must begin to embrace, engage, respect and support Indigenous peoples and local communities’ bio-cultural knowledges. We draw on the marine research sector, specifically fisheries, to demonstrate where knowledges are providing useful expertise and call for multidisciplinary approaches to co-productions of science. (Prepared for Nature Communications review).