GEO Brasil - UNEP

the State of Fishing Resowrces:
Fish Extraction and Agua culture
the state of environment in Brazil
in two sub-categories: one is developed by ship owners,
and the other is the actual business or industrial one
Business fishery developed by ship owners is characterised
by the fact that the actual proprietors of the fishing boats
and equipment – the ship owners – do not participate directly
in the productive process, which is delegated to the captain
of the boat The vessels are bigger in size and range than
those used by small-scale fishermen, and demand a certain
division of tasks among all members of the crew – master,
cook, ice-man, machinist, fisherman, etc Besides their
propeller engines, they also have certain fishery support
equipment, which requires some formal training for certain
specific functions These devices, however, do not replace
completely the know-how of the fishermen, particularly the
master, who uses it in the same way as small-scale
producers, the social group he usually comes from Just as
in small-scale fishery, labour is paid according to the share
system, although there may be some complementary forms
of payment for certain jobs In industrial fishery, the
company owns both the boats and the equipment It is
organised in different sectors and, in some cases, it vertically
integrates catching, processing and marketing The boats
are equipped not only to sail, but also to perform some of
the fishing tasks, such as launching and collecting of nets,
and, in some cases, processing the fish on board, which
does not happen in artisan fishery Although the labour
force is mostly recruited from small-scale fishermen and
ship owners’ crews, they usually need specific training to
operate the machinery that substitutes, more thoroughly,
traditionally obtained know-how It is common practice for
workers to receive monthly or weekly wages, although these
only serve as a basis, since the share system still
predominates In this case, though, the shares are calculated
on the global value of the production
Long-term variations, both in marine and in fresh water
environments, consist as one of the greatest threats to
fishery sustainability Such changes directly affect the
production, especially recruiting, and disturb the
management systems, since scientists are unable to
distinguish climatic impacts from fishery ones (Walters &
Parma, 1996) In this regard, the FAO (1995) presents several
examples of increase in fish populations reported from the
late 70’s until the mid-80’s, pointing out that they seem to
constitute a very broad and uniform view of numerous
marine ecosystems spread over different oceans
Concerning Brazilian fishery, there is no deep and
comprehensive research about these relations, but only a
few studies of isolated cases, as in the case of the lobster
and the sardine in marine environment Rossi-
Wongtschowski et al (1996) presented some hypotheses
on the possible causes of the Brazilian sardine population
fluctuations in terms of regional phenomena, long-scale
climatic changes, and other aspects related to fishery itself
The serious situation of marine extractive fishery results
from the difficulties in renewing fish stocks, or from
overfishing the main national fishery resources, as in the
case of the pink shrimp (South/South-east) and the sardine,
respectively These problems started during the 70’s, as
Silva (1972) and Diegues had already mentioned (1983)
Some more recent analyses indicate that over 80 percent of
the main stocks have reached their maximum levels of
exploitation, which means they are beyond their maximum
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