The contribution of fishing to human well-being in Brazilian coastal communities

Abstract

Artisanal fishing is the main economic and cultural livelihood on the Brazilian coast, strongly contributing to the well-being of fishing communities. However, access to these benefits depends on both local governance and the availability of resources. Here, we investigate Brazilian artisanal fishers’ perceptions of cultural, economic, governance, health and social contributions that artisanal fishing makes to their well-being. We also investigate the influence of geographic (e.g., level of protection) and socioeconomic characteristics (e.g., gender, income and amount of experience) on these perceptions. To do this we conducted 230 structured interviews with fishers from three different areas, two that fish inside protected areas and one that fishes in an urbanized, unprotected area. Our results demonstrate that fishers recognize a wide range of potential well-being benefits from artisanal fishing. Nevertheless, fishers from different areas had significantly different perceptions of cultural, economic, health, and social benefits from artisanal fishing. Perceptions of economic and social benefits seem to be influenced by income while cultural benefits were more influenced by income and gender. Perception of the health benefits of fishing was most influenced by the amount of fishing experience. In contrast to other studies, that primarily focus on the economic benefits of fishing, our research provides a multidimensional perspective of the benefits generated by the practice of artisanal fishing in Brazil. These data can support political decisions that strengthen the management and governance of artisanal fishing, contributing to increasing the well-being of fishing communities and the conservation of limited fisheries resources.