A pesca artesanal no estuário do rio Curu, Ceará - Brasil: saber local e implicações para o manejo

Abstract

This study was carried in the estuary of the Curu river, distant 96 km northwest of the capital Fortaleza, Ceará, State, Brazil. The main goal of this study was to diagnosis the artisanal fishery practiced in that estuary. The research consisted on local visits, between August 2004 and July 2008; communal meetings and 35 semi-structured interviews with local fishermen, addressing their empirical knowledge about the ecological characteristics of the environment. The fishermen interviewed had on average 43 years old and 25 years of experience on fishing in the Curu estuary. About 63% had no professional documentation as fisherman, neither were members of the representative institution. The results recorded the development of fisheries conducted in the estuary since 1960, the lack of organization on the fishery sector in the region and the decrease of fisheries production in recent years. Most importantly, it highlights the necessity of studies that aim to rescue and maintain the local empirical knowledge, with the purpose to support the development of public policies to improve the social-environmental quality of estuarine fishermen in Ceará State.