Slaughter and Processing Infrastructure in Context of Wildlife Harvesting in the State of Amazonas, Brazil

Abstract

In Brazil, legal extensive wildlife management systems can only be developed by traditional communities in Protected Areas (PAs). Licensed slaughterhouses are mandatory for extensive management products to reach the formal market and this can be a problem if there are few processing options. Thus, this work aimed to evaluate the infrastructure for slaughter and processing of animal products in the state of Amazonas and its potential for use in extensive animal management in PAs. A documentary analysis of environmental laws for harvesting of wildlife in PAs, licensing of slaughterhouses and processing facilities and inspection of animal products were carried out, as well as a survey of existing establishments and PAs in the state of Amazonas. Currently, there are norms only for extensive management of arapaimas and caimans in PAs in the state of Amazonas, and specific sanitary requirements only for fishing products (fish, mollusks, frogs, caimans and freshwater turtles). There are 94 slaughtering and processing facilities of animal products in Amazonas, and 32% of the state municipalities have some facility. There are 50 state and federal PAs for the categories that permit extensive wildlife management in Amazonas, and 58% of the state municipalities have at least one PAs in their areas. Of the total municipalities in Amazonas, 22.5% have PAs and establishments. However, a great number of establishments are located in the state capital, making unfeasible their use for slaughter in extensive animal management, requiring support places for storage and later processing of animal products. Keywords: Protected areas, slaughterhouse, processing. Read more →