Ornamental fishing in the region of Barcelos, Amazonas: socioeconomic description and scenario of activity in the view of “piabeiros”

Abstract

The Negro river basin is considered the largest area of extractive of ornamental fish in Brazil. This area has fundamental importance for the populations from the Amazon. The present study aimed to describe socioeconomic profile of ornamental fishermen known as “piabeiros” in the Municipality of Barcelos, as well as the ornamental fishery, fisheries area, target species, environments, fishing techniques, equipment, capture techniques and main difficulties faced by the current activity. This study was carried out in municipality of Barcelos, through semi - structured interviews, with artisanal ornamental fishermen (N= 89). The main families of ornamental fish caught and traded were: Characidae, Lebiasinidae, Gasteropelecidae, Cichilidae, Anostomidae, Loricaridae, Potamotrygonidae and Gymnotidae. The main catchment areas were igarapés, lakes, flooded fields, beaches, river banks and igapó forest. Rapiché was the most used equipment in the fisheries both by the fishermen of the urban areas (43.81%) and rural (41.89%). Most of the fishermen are associated with the colony of fishermen of Barcelos (Z33). The data showed that the dynamics of ornamental fishing have changed in a short time and directly affected fishermen, in addition to the low age renewal with the participation of younger fishermen, threatening the transmission of ecological knowledge to future generations. As a result, the increase of the problems related to the productive chain and absence of public power to the activity, since ornamental fishing has already been treated as one of the main economic activities more important for the local communities and for the State of Amazonas.

Ichthyological ethnoknowledge of the “piabeiros” from the Amazon region, Brazil

“…The species and ornamental fish families described by the fishers in our study are among the most commercialized in the middle region of the Negro River basin [ 13 , 15 , 18 , 19 ].…”

“…This is the case of the Acará disco S. discus , a species from the lower regions of the Negro, Trombetas, and Abacaxis Rivers, for which streams (igarapés) are the main habitat [ 34 ]. This environment is also seen as the main artisanal fishing ground for ornamental fish in the region [ 15 , 19 ].…”

“…In the middle of the Negro River region, this activity is artisanal, selective and practiced by local fishers who are popularly known in the region as “piabeiros”. These fishers, through years of experience, have acquired a deep knowledge about local natural resources [ 15 , 19 ].…”

Descrição socioeconômica dos pescadores de Curralinho, arquipélago do Marajó, Pará, Brasil

“…A pesca na Amazônia é considerada um setor que garante renda, além de suprir a subsistência dos povos ribeirinhos (MARTINS et al, 2017;LADISLAU et al, 2019). Panoramas socioeconômicos nesta área têm sido realizados no mundo, como podemos destacar, no Alasca (RINGER, 2018), no Brasil (MACEDO et al, 2018) e na China (ZHAO et al, 2019), com a atividade pesqueira.…”

Analysis of the Ornamental Fish Exports From the Amazon State, Brazil

“…Most wild-caught fish were from the middle Negro River Region, supplying 90% of the exports and generating income to the municipalities of Barcelos, Santa Isabel do Rio Negro and São Gabriel do Rio Negro. Wild-caught fish was the main source of income for these municipalities (Anjos et al, 2009a) generating 10,000 indirect and direct jobs to around 1,600 families of the region (Prang, 1996;Chao et al, 2001;Prang and Thomé-Souza, 2003;Prang, 2007), although that number has declined in recent years (Inomata and Freitas, 2015;Ladislau et al, 2020).…”