GEO Brasil - UNEP

the State of Fishing Resowrces:
Fish Extraction and Agua culture
the state of environment in Brazil
role in the national scenario Considering that almost all
continental extractive fishery is small-scale or artisan, it can
be inferred that this type of fishery still accounts for about
60 percent of all national extractive production
In terms of regional participation in estuarine-marine
production between 1980 and 1994 (Paiva, op cit), artisan
fishery averaged as follows: Southeast: 386 percent; South:
341 percent; North: 156 percent; and Northeast: 117
percent
The production behaviour of marine extractive fishery can
be considered “preoccupying” and deserves the attention
of those responsible for national fishery management,
especially when the perspective of its sustainability is
considered (Dias-Neto & Dornelles, op cit; Paiva, op cit)
On the other hand, the estimated 1994-1999 continental
extractive fishery production (Table 1), points towards a
decrease The highest production was 210,2775 tonnes in
1996, and 185,4715 tonnes in 1999 Of the latter, 98 percent
correspond to fish and 2 percent to crustaceans It
represented 25 percent of all national fishery production in
that year (IBAMA, 2000)
Regarding the evolution of total aquaculture production
over the past few years, it seems that Brazil has a rather
promising future, having grown from 40,000 tonnes in 1994
(Castagnolli, 1996) to about 140,600 tonnes in 1999 (Table
1), which corresponds to a 263 percent increase In average,
aquaculture has been growing 292 percent a year, ie, 44
times the world’s growth taxes for the same period Thanks
to these figures, Brazil has been gradually moving up in the
international FAO ranking, going from the 35 th place in 1991
to the 26 th in 1999 However, Brazil contributes with only 02
percent of the world fishery production
In 1999, the regional participation in total aquaculture
production was distributed as follows: the southern region
still occupied the first place, with 555 percent of the total,
followed by the Southeast, with 167 percent, the Northeast
with 144 percent, the Central West with 91 percent and the
North with 44 percent Among the southern and
southeastern states, Rio Grande do Sul presented the largest
production (216 percent), followed by Santa Catarina (189
percent), Paraná (149 percent) and São Paulo (95 percent)
Although the southern and southeastern regions do not
have favourable weather conditions for species such as
carps (Cyprinus spp), tilapias (Oreochromis nilóticus and
Tilapia rendalli) and catfish, aquicultivation activities are
very significant in those regions The reasons for this fact
are the use of appropriate technologies, the availability of
subsidies, and the mobilisation of producers’ associations
It seems important to point out, however, that in the specific
case of Brazilian maritime fishery, environmental issues and
other human activities are not the main causes for depletion
of supplies, although this can be the case in some isolated
points of the coast (Marrul-Filho, 2001) The same cannot
be said for the continental environment
As mentioned before, the national extraction fishery
production is stagnant and the fishery sector has been under
the spell of a crisis for over a decade More than 80 percent
T able 1 - P roduction per environment and T otal P roduction ( in tonnes ) , and relative participation ( %) of ex tractive
fishery and of maritimeand fresh w ater aquiculture, from 1994 to 1999.
t x 1,000
Extractive Fishery
Aquiculture
Year
Marine Continental T otal % S ea Fres h Water T otal %
Total
1994 494.3 203.2 697.5 99.5 3.4 0.4 3.8 0.5 701.3
1995 413.7 193.0 606.7 92.9 5.4 40.8 46.2 7.1 652.9
1996 422.2 210.3 632.5 91.2 8.5 52.2 60.7 8.8 693.2
1997 465.7 178.9 644.6 88.0 10.2 77.5 87.7 12.0 732.3
1998 432.6 174.2 606.8 85.4 15.3 88.6 103.9 14.6 710.7
1999 418.5 185.5 604.0 81.1 26.5 114.1 140.6 18.9 744.6
Source: IBAMA - 2001
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