Dinâmicas de desenvolvimento da piscicultura e politicas publicas no vale do Ribeira, estado de São Paulo

Abstract

The existing relationship between public policies and development of finfish freshwater aquaculture within the Ribeira watershed was analysed by interviewing key stakeholders, reviewing official documents and newspapers. Based on their technical characteristics and final outputs, 20 producers were also selected for a detailed survey of their evolution. The trajectory of aquaculture was reconstructed by referring to interactions between the four competency poles that usually make the background of an innovative local system (ILS): production, science, training and funding. The initial step was the introduction of aquaculture and its diffusion within a small group. Later on, a large public policy (technical assistance, applied research) emerged after a controversial period about the Brazilian agricultural model. An ILS only appeared during a third step joining all four poles in a single municipality. This made a core from which the innovative process spread throughout the watershed. This system enlarged but the relationships became more commercially oriented. As prices dropped, these new relationships were never able to face the crisis by using the former collective innovative capacity. To analyse such trajectories, the sociology of innovation and the ILS concept appear to be a relevant tool which allows to identify key elements of the dynamics of the aquaculture within the Ribeira valley, to evaluate the impact of public policy and to propose some recommendations to implement development policies.