Support for artisanal fisheries in Brazil needs to be put into practice, and support provided for fishing families who make their living from fisheries and aquaculture in the coastal regions and inland fisheries of the country, where 800,000 people are directly involved in fisheries and millions more depend on fish for their daily protein and livelihoods, a recent workshop was told.
The workshop on FAO voluntary guidelines for small-scale held at of Prainha do Canto Verde, Cerara, Brazil, from 22 to 25 November, was organized by the NGO Terramar Institute in co-operation with the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF).
The community tourism council of Prainha do Canto Verde provided accommodations, meals and meeting facilities and the workshop was co-ordinated by five of ICSF’s Brazilian Members. FAO and the Friends of Prainha do Canto Verde from Switzerland provided financial support.
The participants included 55 stakeholders from artisanal marine and inland fisheries, aquaculture, academia, NGOs, and the business and government sectors.
The government of Brazil showed strong support for the approval of the voluntary guidelines at the FAO Ministers Conference in January 2011. The workshop participants pointed out the difficulty of defining small-scale fisheries in a country the size of Brazil, and called for a regionalized approach to fisheries in terms of the south, northeast and north coasts, the Amazon rivers in four States and inland fisheries and aquaculture in the rest of Brazil.
Discussions focused on the human-rights aspects of coastal communities, especially the right of access to the resource, the right to land to live and produce, and the right to decent work and livelihood and access to markets.
The workshop called on the government to frame a common policy for the participation of coastal communities and stakeholders in the management of important fisheries.
Marine protected areas (MPAs) within the framework of existing legislation such as Marine Extractive Reserves need to become high priority with investments to strengthen enforcement and management capacity.
Another area for concern is illegal fishing which results in large economic losses for small-scale fishers. In particular, illegal diving for lobsters results in loss of life of divers who work in violation of labour rights, while also creating conflicts between artisanal fishers and divers. A special presentation was made to government representative about the “II Lobster War”, calling for urgent measures to stop the conflict which also endangers lobster stocks.
The workshop also called for more studies and data about the role of women in fisheries.
The full report and Statement of the Prainha do Canto Verde workshop can be accessed at: https://sites.google.com/site/smallscalefisheries/events/brazil
2012 ICSF