Biologist Ana Carolina Esteves Dias, researcher at Unicamp's Biology Institute (IB), outlined, in her master's thesis, a program to monitor artisanal fishing in the community of Tarituba, in Paraty, in the State of Rio de Janeiro in a participatory manner. . The community is located in the north of the municipality, close to the border with Angra dos Reis. Integrating the social and economic scenario with the ecological context, the proposed program seeks to reconcile the conservation of the coastal-marine environment without harming the artisanal fishing activity of local caiçaras.

For 10 years, a series of conflicts have been recorded in Tarituba, reports the Unicamp researcher. Ana Carolina explains that the main fishing grounds in the area are located within the Tamoios Ecological Station (ESEC), an integral protection conservation unit created in 1990 by the federal government as a counterpart to the implementation of the nuclear power plants in Angra dos Reis. The station, managed by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), only began to be effectively monitored and inspected in the last ten years, when the first conflicts appeared after the fishing ban.

“This is an integrally protected conservation unit in which fishing cannot occur. But, at the same time, there is a community that has always fished there, even before the establishment of the unit. Fishermen claim that fishing is their survival. The objective of the program, which has not yet been implemented, is to obtain information about the importance of fishing for the community and its possible impacts on the local marine environment to support a management proposal with an ecosystemic focus”, explains Ana Carolina.

According to her, the ecosystemic approach to management depends on the balance between social, economic, cultural and ecological needs. “The monitoring program outlined during the research integrates social and ecological aspects. Its objective is to enable the identification of ways to conserve the coastal-marine environment in question, without harming the Caiçara lifestyle of Tarituba fishermen”, she highlights.

The study was supervised by researcher Cristiana Simão Seixas, affiliated with the IB Postgraduate Program in Ecology. The advisor also works with the Environmental Studies and Research Center (Nepam) at Unicamp. The work was funded by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), in the form of a grant to the researcher.

There was also the granting of an exchange scholarship from Santander Universities, aimed at paying for the Unicamp student's three-month stay at National Patagonian Center (CENPAT) in Puerto Madryn, Argentina. There, she studied the inclusion of fishermen's knowledge in participatory monitoring programs for artisanal fishing in Brazil and the Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile and Uruguay).

Adjustment Term
of Conduct

The biologist clarifies that the monitoring program still needs a review, both by the fishing community and ICMBio, in order to define operational management, indicating, for example, those responsible for data collection.

To begin monitoring activities, a Conduct Adjustment Term (TAC) must be signed between local fishermen, ICMBio and the Federal Public Ministry of Angra dos Reis. The TAC proposal was discussed among these actors as a possibility to mitigate the conflict.

Under the term, artisanal fishing in certain areas of ESEC Tamoios would be temporarily permitted with due monitoring and inspection. Since inspection began, fishing, landing and anchoring activities have been prohibited at the Station. According to ICMBio, the objective is to preserve the rich island and marine ecosystem of Ilha Grande Bay.

“To achieve monitoring we need data on the species fished, at what time of year and how relevant fishing is to the community. An important aspect at the time was that fishermen felt that inspection was carried out disrespectfully. Therefore, one of the objectives is to monitor fishermen's perception of the inspection approach as well. In the end, this program will provide information to provide alternatives to this conflict situation: fishing is prohibited, but, at the same time, there are people who need fishing”, reveals Ana Carolina.

Possible alternatives

The Unicamp scholar proposes two alternatives to the current configuration of ESEC Tamoios in order to resolve existing conflicts. The first of these would be to redefine the limits of the Station, encompassing new areas, such as reproductive habitats, and excluding areas used for fishing by local caiçaras (blocks 1 and 2).

The conservation unit is divided into 12 blocks, comprising 29 islands, islets, slabs and rocks within a radius of 1.000 meters around it. According to the scientific literature used in the research, the fishing grounds most used by the caiçaras of Tarituba are on Ilha Comprida (which belongs to block I of ESEC Tamoios), Rochedo de São Pedro, Ilha da Araraquara (which make up block II), Ilha de Araçatiba, Cedro Island, Laje Branca, Ponta dos Meros, Sete Cabeças, Araçaíba, Pelado Island, Sandri Island (which belong to other blocks or areas adjacent to ESEC Tamoios) and Paraty Bay.

The second alternative pointed out by the biologist would be to recategorize blocks 1 and 2 into a sustainable use conservation unit, thus enabling the reconciliation of resource conservation with Tarituba's fishing activities. “The reformulation of the management of ESEC Tamoios could be a milestone in Brazilian environmental management with regard to the adaptive management of natural resources and the reconciliation of environmental conservation with traditional ways of life. If the TAC is not celebrated, existing conflicts in the region could be exacerbated, discouraging respect and care from extractive communities towards resources”, she ponders.

According to the study, Tarituba has 430 inhabitants and 65 fishermen registered with ESEC Tamoios. Of these, 25 are classified as artisanal commercial fishermen and 40 as non-commercial subsistence fishermen, according to the Fisheries Law (Law nº 11.959/2009). The local caiçaras are associated with the Z-18 fishing colony in Paraty and are mostly men, although some women carry out fishing activities to extract shellfish and crabs.

After the start of program activities, Ana Carolina informs that the monitoring results would be discussed annually with the ESEC Tamoios Advisory Board, for corrective measures, review, complementation of the commitments established by the TAC and, if the data points to this possibility, the renewal of the TAC.

SocMon

To outline the monitoring program in Tarituba, the Unicamp researcher was based on the method used by SocMon (Global Socioeconomic Monitoring Initiative for Coastal Management), a socioeconomic monitoring program for coastal communities that aims to provide information for local management and generate information that can be compared globally.

“SocMon is already applied in more than 30 countries and is in the pilot phase in three conservation units in the country. In Brazil, the implementation of the method was discussed with ICMBio with the aim of creating mechanisms for applying the information generated in the management of monitored areas and maintenance over time. Tarituba revealed that the flexibility of the method meets local needs in terms of program design. However, the guide, when translated into Portuguese, must also contain new ways of transmitting content beyond written language. The training of those involved, as well as the collection and analysis of monitoring data, must be a continuous process”, he informs.

She also highlights that the participation of the local community in monitoring activities is not an effective guarantee that the fishermen's knowledge is incorporated into the management of the conservation unit. Ana Carolina states that, to achieve this, an approach focused on knowledge and information sharing in a more balanced way is necessary. “Often the information given by managers is not understood by fishermen and vice versa. Therefore, it is not enough to just participate in meetings”, she points out.

Publication 

Dissertation: “Participatory monitoring of fishing in the community of Tarituba, Paraty-RJ: reconciling conservation and artisanal fishing”
Author: Ana Carolina Esteves Dias
Advisor: Christiana Simon Seixas
Unity: Institute of Biology (IB)
Financing: CNPq