Exposure of Fishery Resources to Environmental and Socioeconomic Threats within the Pantanal Wetland of South America

Abstract

Citation: Alho CJR, Reis RE (2017) Exposure of Fishery Resources to Environmental and Socioeconomic Threats within the Pantanal Wetland of South America. Int J Aquac Fish Sci 3(2): 022-029. AbstractThe huge Pantanal wetland, located in the central region of South America, mainly in Brazil, formed by the Upper Paraguay River Basin, comprising 150,355 km² (approximately 140,000 km² in Brazil), is facing environmental and socioeconomic threats that are affecting fi sh populations and fi shery resources. The Paraguay River and its tributaries feed the Pantanal wetland, forming a complex aquatic ecosystem, harboring more than 260 fi sh species, some of them with great subsistence and commercial values to regional human communities. Sport fi shing is also preeminent in the region. The natural ecosystems and the increasing human population that depend on them are at risk from a number of identifi ed threats, including natural habitat disruptions and overfi shing. Fishing catches have been decreasing, as has the size of captured fi sh. Riverine vegetation, which is periodically fl ooded during the high-water season, forming feeding and reproductive grounds for some fi sh species, has been affected by deforestation and other impacts. Conversion of natural vegetation for human use and wild fi res are severe and have become part of the annual cycle of ranch owners. Flooding dynamics have been threatened by infrastructure, including small hydroelectric plants on the riverheads.

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“…For the past 50 years, local fishers in the Pantanal region have been under constant pressure to stop fishing, with decision makers, environmentalists and local businessmen accusing them of overfishing in the region (Alho and Reis 2017). As a consequence, several strictly protected areas have been established in the region, restricting the use of natural resources.…”

The impacts of climate change on rainfall modeling in the Pantanal of Mato Grosso do Sul

“…The Pantanal revealed the greatest occurrence of fire foci in relation to the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest. The largest records of fire foci in the Pantanal are caused by longer periods of drought and anthropogenic activities (based on extensive agriculture) - (Teodoro et al, 2015;Teodoro et al, 2016); Thielen et al (2020) analyzed the spatial and temporal dynamics of rainfall and extremes resulting from the Upper Paraguay basin, together with a co-assessment of global sea surface temperature (SST) data; Ivory, McGlue, Spera, Silva, and Bergier (2019) using vegetation and remote sensing climate data to better understand the relationships between rainfall, flood pulse and vegetation in the wetland, rainfall is regionally synchronous, vegetation responses differ based on position in relation to flooded areas , suggests that the importance of the flood pulse time for vegetation productivity in flooded areas means that local conditions in wet areas may be the strongest controls in biogeochemical processes; Oliveira, Pla-Pueyo, and Hackney (2018) studied the natural and social aspects that affected wetlands and possible future impacts due to climate change and the effects of human activities, sensitive to changes in the flood, drought and deforestation regime, intrinsically related to global changes and places in the climate and intensification of livestock activities, which include deforestation and the introduction of cultivated pastures; agricultural transformation and its socioeconomic and cultural implications, (Rossetto, 2009;Wantzen et al, 2008;Calheiros, Oliveira, & Padovani, 2012;Ioris, 2012;Rossetto & Girardi, 2012;Bergier, 2013;Lacerda, 2017;Lacerda & Lima, 2015); conflicts over fishing (Mateus, Penha, & Petrere, 2004;Rossetto & Tocantins, 2015;Alho & Reis, 2017;Ávila, Silva, & Ferraz, 2018;Chiaravalloti, 2017;2019); tourism (Rabelo, Arts, Girard, Ioris, & Figueiredo, 2017;Tortato & Izzo, 2017;Arts et al, 2018); traditional and local ecological knowledge (Calheiros, Seidl, & Ferreira, 2000;Abreu, McManus, & Santos, 2010;Silva, Silveira, & Nogueira, 2014;…”

Environmental Effects of the Unsustainable Harvest of Live Bait for Sport Fishing in the Brazilian Pantanal Biome – A Review

“…Professional and sport fishing are traditional activities in the Pantanal, with a strong environmental and socioeconomic focus (Alho & Reis 2017). The natural aquatic habitats of the Pantanal are strongly seasonal, influenced by the water flow that determines an annual and multiannual changing regime (Alho & Silva 2012).…”

“…For example, in 2005 was registered the catch of 1,230,229 live bait specimens, estimated to represent about 16 % of the regional catch, mainly in the region of Corumbá (Catella et al 2009). While there has been a decline in commercial and subsistence fishing since the 1990s, there has been an increase in sport fishing in the region (Alho & Reis 2017). Some local people argue that the excessive regulation of commercial fishing, to cope with the fishing decline caused by overfishing, and the consequent decline in the size of fish caught, have caused the decline in professional fishing and led to an increase in sport fishing.…”

“…For decades, local people of the Pantanal have relied on subsistence and commercial fisheries, harvesting its abundance of fish. In recent decades, however, fish were removed on a massive scale, and overfishing has been identified as a primary cause of ecosystem collapse in aquatic systems (Alho & Reis 2017). However, it is also necessary to consider the growing tourist influx in the Pantanal in recent decades.…”