Abstract
BackgroundFishermen’s knowledge is a source of indispensable information in decision-making processes related to efforts to stimulate the management and conservation of fishing resources, especially in developing countries. This study analyzed the knowledge of fishermen from three municipal areas of Bahia in northeast Brazil regarding the behavior repertoire of sharks and the possible influence that these perceptions may have on the inclination to preserve these animals. This is a pioneering study on the ethnobiological aspects of elasmobranchs in Brazil.MethodsOpen, semi-structured interviews with shark fishing specialists were conducted between September 2011 and October 2012. The interviews addressed the fishermen’s profile, fishing techniques and knowledge about sharks, focusing on the behaviours exhibited by sharks. The data were analysed with quantitative approach and conducted with the use of descriptive statistical techniques.ResultsSixty-five fishermen were interviewed. They descend from the rafting subculture of Brazil’s northeast, which has historically been disregarded by public policies addressing the management and conservation of fishing resources. The fishing fleet involved in shark fishing includes rafts, fishing boats and lobster boats equipped with fishing lines, gillnets, longlines and “esperas”. The informers classified sharks’ behaviour repertoire into 19 ethological categories, related especially to feeding, reproduction, and social and migratory behaviours. Because they identify sharks as predators, the detailed recognition of the behaviours exhibited is crucial both for an efficient catch and to avoid accidents. Therefore, this knowledge is doubly adaptive as it contributes to safer, more lucrative fishing. A feeling of respect for sharks predominates, since informers recognize the ecological role of these animals in marine ecosystems, attributing them the status of leader (or “the man”) in the sea.ConclusionsThis work demonstrates the complexity and robustness of artisanal fishermen’s ichthyological knowledge of sharks. Therefore, we suggest that such knowledge should be considered to develop public policies for the control of the fishing activity, as well as to develop and consolidate the National Action Plan for the Conservation of Shark and Ray Species (PAN - Tubarões e Raias).
Highlights
Fishermen’s knowledge is a source of indispensable information in decision-making processes related to efforts to stimulate the management and conservation of fishing resources, especially in developing countries
We found that a large majority (97.1%) of fishermen are native to the coastal communities of Brazil’s northeast and that they descend from the numerous indigenous ethnic groups who have survived for centuries off the natural resources of the Atlantic rainforest and Bahia coast [44]
Faced with that little capability and with the difficulty of measuring the impact of artisanal fishing on populations of coastal sharks or sharks that use coastal areas to reproduce and nurse their young [77], we suggest that initiatives be taken to sensitize fishermen, with activities that promote their environmental education, as the observed discrepancies in local knowledge are the result of unfamiliarity with sharks’ reproductive biology
Summary
Fishermen’s knowledge is a source of indispensable information in decision-making processes related to efforts to stimulate the management and conservation of fishing resources, especially in developing countries. The Elasmobranchii subclass comprises cartilaginous fish, with 500 species of sharks described [1] Due to their numerous adaptive specializations developed over 400 million years [2], sharks stand out as one of the main predators at the top of the food chain in marine environments [3]. Faced with a context of severe threats, in 1999, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched the International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks (IPOA–Sharks), a voluntary instrument that applies to all nations where these animals are fished [10].
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