Abstract
BackgroundSeahorses are endangered teleost fishes under increasing human pressures worldwide. In Brazil, marine conservationists and policy-makers are thus often skeptical about the viability of sustainable human-seahorse interactions. This study focuses on local ecological knowledge on seahorses and the implications of their non-lethal touristic use by a coastal community in northeastern Brazil. Community-based seahorse-watching activities have been carried out in Maracaípe village since 1999, but remained uninvestigated until the present study. Our goal is to provide ethnoecological understanding on this non-extractive use to support seahorse conservation and management.MethodsWe interviewed 32 informants through semi-structured questionnaires to assess their socioeconomic profile, their knowledge on seahorse natural history traits, human uses, threats and abundance trends.ResultsSeahorse-watching has high socioeconomic relevance, being the primary income source for all respondents. Interviewees elicited a body of knowledge on seahorse biology largely consistent with up-to-date research literature. Most informants (65.5 %) perceived no change in seahorse abundance. Their empirical knowledge often surpassed scientific reports, i.e. through remarks on trophic ecology; reproductive aspects, such as, behavior and breeding season; spatial and temporal distribution, suggesting seahorse migration related to environmental parameters.ConclusionsSeahorse-watching operators were aware of seahorse biological and ecological aspects. Despite the gaps remaining on biological data about certain seahorse traits, the respondents provided reliable information on all questions, adding ethnoecological remarks not yet assessed by conventional scientific surveys. We provide novel ethnobiological insight on non-extractive modes of human-seahorse interaction, eliciting environmental policies to integrate seahorse conservation with local ecological knowledge and innovative ideas for seahorse sustainable use. Our study resonates with calls for more active engagement with communities and their local ecologies if marine conservation and development are to be reconciled.
Highlights
Seahorses are endangered teleost fishes under increasing human pressures worldwide
Our research investigates an outstanding case of community spontaneous self-organization, located on a far side of the increased openness for participation in research spectrum [17], an intriguing case of self-governing mode of community seahorse conservation
Socioeconomic profile We interviewed 32 informants encompassing 84 % of the total 38 jangadeiros operating the seahorse-watching
Summary
Seahorses are endangered teleost fishes under increasing human pressures worldwide. This study focuses on local ecological knowledge on seahorses and the implications of their non-lethal touristic use by a coastal community in northeastern Brazil. Belong to Syngnathidae within the genera Hippocampus and are currently represented by 41 species distributed worldwide [1]. Hippocampus reidi was listed globally as “vulnerable” in the red list of endangered species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 1996 [9]. In the Brazilian list of endangered species [11], H. reidi was listed as “vulnerable” due to populational decline, overexploitation, lack of fishery landing data and habitat loss
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