Social and structural aspects of artisanal fishing in the upper Paraná River Floodplain (Brazil)

Abstract

This paper describes the socio-economic and structural aspects of fishers that exploit the Upper Paraná River floodplain, located between the Porto Primavera and Itaipu (PR) dams and surrounded by 26 hydroelectric dams upstream, which control flooding and have a deleterious effect on fish reproduction and doubtlessly on local fishery. Data were collected in 1999 and 2000 by personal interviews in the towns of Porto Rico-PRI and Porto São José-PSJ, distant 14 km down the river. Results show distinct fishing structures and patterns in fishery communities, which corroborate the heterogeneity of the activity. Fish consumption is low and the fishing activity has not been taught to children. The richness of caught species is higher in PSJ than in PRI. Although fishers in general use the same bait (morenita or tuvira í  Gymnotus carapo), in PSJ, fishermen created equipment ("cevadeiraâ€Â) to attract fish using fermented soya and maize. The species caught by this "ceva†are armado (Pterodoras granulosus), barbado (Pinirampus pirinampu), dourado (Salminus brasiliensis), pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus), piapara (Leporinus elongatus), piracanjuba (Brycon orbignyanus) and mandi (Pimelodus maculatus and Iheringichthys labrosus); while in PRI the fishers caught mainly armado (Pterodoras granulosus), curimba (Prochilodus lineatus), barbado (Pinirampus pirinampu) and dourado (Salminus brasiliensis). Nowadays, fishing and its culture are endangered traditions on the Upper Paraná river floodplain, due to multiple factors such as the fragile social organization aggravated by illiteracy, by incentives to tourism and/or sports fishery in an excluding way, and the intense modification of ecosystems imposing adjustments in fishing habits and fish population.