Estratégias para manejo dos recursos naturais na pesca de Camarão-da-Amazônia Macrobrachium amazonicum (Heller, 1862) na ilha de Sirituba, Abaetetuba - PA

Abstract

This thesis analyzes strategies for the community management of artisanal fishing of the Amazon river prawn (Macrobrachium amazonicum) and its relationship to the local economy of the Amazon basin in the communities of Santa Maria and São Miguel, Sirituba Island, in the municipality of Abaetetuba, Pará, Brazil. The main objective was to examine how the artisanal fishing of Macrobrachium amazonicum is linked to the production of local natural resources and which strategies the local population can employ in the Abaetetuba Islands to reduce predatory prawn fishing in the region. Can the extraction of local products, together with sustainable prawn fishing, such as catch experiments using modified fishing techniques (matapi), knowledge of local rules and regulations and appropriate management of natural resources (fishing and extraction) reduce the size of the catch? Strategies such as this experiment show that there was an increase in the total weight of the catch, resulting in higher incomes. Furthermore, this production, combined with other extraction products and additional measures such as environmental education and fishing outreach courses, helps to reduce predatory fishing. Of the total production recorded in the island (the seasonal extraction of açai and mirity palm, as well as fish and prawn fishing), over 80% was for sale and complements the income of fishermen. Qualitative and quantitative studies were conducted, using open and closed questionnaires, together with a piece of participatory research and a case study. They were relevant for the two communities and for the type of matapi, given that they can increase the size of the catch. Catch data evidenced the existence of predatory fishing. Other natural resources (açai, fish and mirity) and governmental programs are essential and complementary to fishermen's incomes. In the Islands, prawn fishing has great potential for supplying the region's local fish trade. It also involves a type of social organization that promotes the community management of wetlands.