Fishermen and Territorial Trends in the Brazilian Fisheries Policies

Christian Nunes Da Silva,Eduardo Schiavone Cardoso

doi:10.4236/ijg.2015.64027

Christian Nunes Da Silva, Eduardo Schiavone Cardoso

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4236/ijg.2015.64027

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Abstract

The fishing activity has been known for centuries by man and is configured as an important source of livelihood and income for many families of Brazilian fishermen. This article tries to do a brief contextualization of fishing in Brazil, as well as discuss the notion of territoriality of sector policies. The trend shown for the future is the need for a planning/mapping of operation areas of productive agents in the country, so that fish stocks can be managed more appropriately. One of the proposals that comes with acceptance and is already being applied in some municipalities is fishing agreements, using co-management mechanisms for planning and use of fisheries resources.

Highlights

The fishing activity has always been, and remains, an important source of food for human consumption
The co-administration or co-management, is a way to highlight the traditional knowledge of fishermen through the sharing of responsibilities, which the Government and communities share the management of local natural resources. This trend has been to add to the studies conducted in various locations around the world [1] [31] [32] and Brazil [28] [30] [33], demonstrating the ability that communities have in the management of natural resources and the fishing spatial planning, reducing internal conflicts and increasing production and income communities
Fisheries agreements are by their collective management tools of fish stocks that, through dialogue among fishermen colonies and associations, together with the bodies responsible for legalization and supervision of fishing activity, establish standards of ownership of these resources, with the use of ordinances which have the force of law, such as Regulatory Instructions [34]

Summary

Introduction

The fishing activity has always been, and remains, an important source of food for human consumption. Thereby, over the years new techniques have emerged and “modernizing” existing ones, optimizing the extraction of resources exploited by humans At this point, people began to use new equipment, adapting them to their ways of life and increasing the productivity of what was already extracted, threatening the popular natural resources carrying capacity, whether fishing, timber, etc. Public policies designed to minimize conflicts and propose sustainable management solutions are available to fishermen, industry experts and technicians to check their viability In this context, based on the main documents made available by the Brazilian government that deal with land use planning and fisheries management [2]-[5], it is important to examine the practicability of the concept of territory by the Brazilian state at present time and its application in the activities of fishermen and actions of associations and fishing colonies. The trend shown at this point is a significant decrease of resources in every way (forestry and fisheries), caused mainly by the predatory use and the growing demand, which makes the use of resources occur in areas where stand power relations and generation of “constructive territoriality” (agreements) and, at other times, destructive (conflicts)

The Fishing Activity in Brazil

The Colonies and Their Territoriality

The Fisheries Agreements: A Territorial Tendency to Fisheries Management?

Findings

Conclusions