SSmall-scale fishing communities around

the world are at serious risk from depleting

fish stocks, coastal pollution and other

threats to the marine environment. There

are an estimated 200 million people whose

livelihoods depend on fishing^1 many of

whom live at the margins. U.N. Food and

Agriculture Organisation figures show that

the number of people fishing and fish farm-

ing worldwide has more than doubled since

1970.^2 The poorest two-thirds of the world’s
population obtain approximately forty per-
cent of their protein from fish.^3 Fishing is
not only a source of nutrition but it is also
an important source of employment.
Significantly, artisanal or small-scale fish-
eries employ twenty times as many people
as the industrial fisheries that are rapidly
replacing them.

Brazil has over 4,500 miles of coastline

encompassing a multitude of marine envi-

ronments. This ecological diversity, coupled

with the country’s cultural diversity, has

encouraged the proliferation of fishing

methods as distinct from one another as the

environment that sustains them. Fishing

practices are often an amalgamation of

indigenous strategies and European ones.

These methods include the use of small,

hand-made crafts (such as rafts or dugout

canoes) and simple technology. Traditional

fishers often have intimate knowledge of

their surroundings and seasonal changes

with belief systems adapted to the conser-

vation of special areas. Frequently, tradition-

al coastal communities depend on forest

resources to enable them to take advantage

of those of the sea. Their simple boats,

rods, masts, even nets are made from local

terrestrial resources. Although their meth-

ods are low tech in comparison industrial

fishing, artisanal fishers bring in as much as

70% of the total catch in Brazil.^4

The strategies of small-scale fishers are

often congruent with conservation goals. It

is not uncommon that over time, local man-

agement regimes have developed that

establish when, by whom and where both

sea and terrestrial resources can be used.

Many of these groups have developed local-

ly appropriate resource management sys-

tems influenced by the characteristics of

their natural resource base and their cultur-

al context.^5 Supporting these types of

regimes may be relevant not only for

strengthening local livelihoods but also for

History, cculture aand cconservation

History, cculture aand pparticipatory mmarine cconservation

in aa BBrazilian ffishing ccommunity

Patricia PPinto dda SSilva

Summary. Brazilian coastal communities are faced with increasing pressures on the living marine
resources on which they depend. Policies related to property rights of the marine environment, specifically
the creation of direct use collaboratively managed marine protected areas, may provide the mechanism
for supporting and sustaining traditional coastal livelihoods. Maritime Extractive Reserves, a new type of
government-community collaborative management regime, are being established in coastal areas of Brazil
in order to protect natural resources while sustaining local livelihoods. These reserves may enable fishing-
dependent communities to maintain or even strengthen the traditional institutions that have governed
these resources over time. This paper explores the role that history and culture in Arraial do Cabo (Rio de
Janeiro) play in determining this community’s ability to collaboratively manage local marine resources.