Knowledge, attitudes and behavioural intentions of gillnet fishermen towards the South American sea lion in two marine protected areas in southern Brazil

Abstract

Conflicts between humans and wildlife are increasing in many parts of the world. In southern Brazil, South American sea lions (Otaria flavescens) interact with commercial fisheries, which can result in retaliation by fishermen. In order to understand the factors that may influence the behaviour of fishermen towards sea lions, interviews were carried out with 91 gillnet fishermen from the southern region of Brazil. Of these, 48 were fishermen from the surroundings of the Molhe Leste Wildlife Refuge, in Rio Grande/São José do Norte, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS), and 43 were fishermen from the surroundings of Ilha dos Lobos, in Laguna, in the state of Santa Catarina (SC). The questions were formulated to investigate concepts such as Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviour Intentions related to sea lions, their places of occurrence, the legislation and interactions with fisheries. Background factors such as knowledge about national marine mammal legal protection and perceptions towards sea lions, socioeconomic factors of fishers and vessel size were also investigated. Chi-squared, Student's t and Contingency Table tests were performed to verify differences between communities. For each community, generalized linear models (GLM) were performed to verify relation between background factors and Attitudes and Mann-Whitney tests were used to verify relation between Attitudes and Behaviour Intentions. Results showed that there were no statistically significant differences between gillnet fishermen from RG/SJN and Laguna in terms of Attitudes and Behaviour Intentions. Experience and Perceptions on the American sea lion population increase and on the appreciation of sea lions by fishermen were the only background factors that influenced Attitudes in RG/SJN, as well as Perception on the increase of the American sea lion population in Laguna. A significant direct relation between Attitudes and Behavioural Intentions was found in Laguna. Fishermen's knowledge, attitudes and behavioural intentions were more positive because the majority of the interviewees worked in the industrial gillnet fleet, which operates in areas further from the coast and, therefore, are less subjected to interact with sea lions during fishing activities. Besides, this fleet has a greater fishing power than small and medium-scale vessels, making economic losses less impactful for fishermen. Greater efforts should be made to raise the awareness of surface gillnet fisheries in regard to conflict mitigation, to monitor the compliance with the fishery legislation and its effectiveness, and to make an integrated management of the Protected Areas, among other actions.