Fishers in a Brazilian Shantytown: Relational wellbeing supports recovery from environmental disaster

Abstract

How do environmental damages and disasters affect the wellbeing of fishers and fishing communities? How do fishers, and their communities, deal with and recover from such impacts? A three-dimensional wellbeing framework, involving material, relational and subjective wellbeing components, is applied to explore these questions as they arise in the urban coastal community of Vila dos Pescadores, in Southeast Brazil. This analysis examines a range of environmental impacts on fisher wellbeing, the cumulative effects of these impacts, and the particular case of a human-caused environmental disaster, namely a major industrial fire near Vila dos Pescadores. The analysis highlights how a pre-existing state of strong relational wellbeing was a major factor in the resilience of the community, as it recovered from the disaster. Emphasis is also placed on the important potential of conservation initiatives, carried out with the involvement of fishers, not only for ecological recovery but also for building wellbeing and social capital in the community. Based on the insights of fishers and other community members in Vila dos Pescadores, a series of recommendations to improve governmental policy are provided.