conserving marine resources.Brazilian coastal communities are being
faced with increasing pressures on the living
marine resources upon which their liveli-
hoods depend. Policy changes on property
rights of certain marine areas may create
an enabling environment for fishing commu-
nities to adapt to these pressures while
maintaining or even strengthening the tradi-
tional institutions that have governed these
resources over time. This paper explores
the history and culture of one such commu-
nity, Arraial do Cabo (Rio de Janeiro), and
the likelihood for successful long-term col-
lective marine conservation. Research in this
municipality, the location of the first open-
water direct use marine protected area,
suggests that history and culture may be
the defining factors in determining the suc-
cess of long-term resource conservation ini-
tiatives.Local marine resources
Terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in Arraial
do Cabo are deeply intertwined. Land for-
mations are in part a result of distant ocean
currents and the movements of sediments
just as the migration of fish has beenencouraged by favorable conditions for
feeding related to the quiet bays surround-
ing the cape. The uses of these resources
have always complemented each other.
Fishers and their families have used materi-
als from the forest and dunes for making
nets, while salt mined from nearby lagoons
served to preserve fish before the arrival of
industrial freezers.The hills that today surround the dense
urban center of Arraial do Cabo once
formed an archipelago of volcanic islands.
Over time, winds and strong ocean currents
deposited sand along the coast creating
sandbanks. These sandbanks eventually
linked the former islands together connect-
ing them to the mainland and forming a
cape extending into the Atlantic Ocean. This
cape is surrounded by distinctive coastal
formations ranging from protected coves
and harbors to rough and rocky open ocean
terrain. This process also created favorable
conditions for a variety of different ecosys-
tems to emerge all of which have at some
point or another been utilised in supporting
local livelihoods. Local ecosystems include
sand dunes, restingas^6 , salt lakes, coral
reefs, lagoons, mangrove forests and patch-
es of the acutely threat-
ened Atlantic Rainforest.^7The richness of the
aquatic ecosystem sur-
rounding the cape is due
largely to the upwelling
phenomenon. Waters at
depths of 120 meters or
more receive little sun-
light essential for the pri-
mary production of phy-
toplankton. The absence
of these small creatures
results in a high nutrient
concentration at these
depths. In a few coastal
areas around the world,
due to oceanographic,Conservation aas ccultural aand ppolitical ppractice
Figure 1.Canoe on Praia Grande (Courtesy Patricia Pinto da Silva)