Management of the fish-weir fisheries at the CananéiaIguape-Ilha Comprida estuary

Abstract

This research was developed at the Cananéia-Iguape-Ilha Comprida estuarine complex, and aimed to characterize their fish-weir fisheries. This gear at Cananéia and Ilha Comprida (south area) is made with “taquaras”, wooden and wire, while that of Iguape and Ilha Comprida (north area) is made with bamboo stripes, bamboos and wire. These last ones had from one to four fish houses; and the fish-weirs of the southern area had only one fish house. The mainly captured species have been the mullet, Mugil platanus in the winter months, and the white mullet, Mugil curema in the summer months. Although the fishermen do not adopt fish-weirs as the only fishing gear, they bring about a significant contribution for their life sustenance. The co-management that guarantees this traditional fishery, aiming to the culture maintenance and preservation of the resources through the limitation of the number of fishing units would contribute to the fishery management. The process of fish-weir fishery normalization is under analysis at IBAMA since 2005. Such proceeding is too delayed. This fact brings discredit in participative normalization and management processes of fishing resources. The biggest difficult found in the co-management process is the lack of commitment from the managing agencies to the society. The non-recognition of the participative process legitimacy by the official management agencies causes discontinuity in the proposals and has given origin to quarrels among the fishermen.