Social Conflicts and Fishery Governance Systems in the Estuary and Coast of Pará, Amazonia, Brazil

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter discusses the challenges for creating a local social governance system in the Estuary and Coast of the State of Pará, Brazil involving small-scale fisheries, as well as the unsustainable fishing practices of industrial fishing fleets. The goal is to examine proposals for the creation of fishery governance systems, identifying related issues of injustice. Our analysis is guided by interactive governance theory and it’s three orders of governance. Specifically, we describe how small-scale fisheries participate in decision-making and everyday interactions (first order), how government institutions operate (second order), and the principles that inform these actions (meta-order). Analyzed data indicate situations of injustice characterized by the difficulties small-scale fisheries face in participating in decision-making processes and by the imbalanced power relations that interfere in daily interactions, including the actions of government institutions. This injustice is due to the contradictions and ineffectiveness of public policies. We thus analyze public policies implemented by the federal government and by the state government of Pará within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries (SSF Guidelines) (FAO, Voluntary guidelines for securing sustainable small-scale fisheries in the context of food security and poverty eradication (the SSF Guidelines). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 2017). We conclude that the necessary changes in governance depend on the capacity for political organizations in the small-scale fisheries sector to work with other sectors and commit to the implementation of the SSF Guidelines and SDGs in defense of territories, sustainable fishing, Blue Justice, and quality of life.KeywordsSmall-scale and industrial fishingAmazonia estuaryModes of governanceInteractive governanceBlue Justice