Ethnoichthyology of artisanal fishermen from the estuary of Mamanguape River, Paraí­­ba, Brazil

Abstract

This work was performed with two communities of artisanal fishermen from Barra de Mamanguape and Tramataia, located at the shore of the Mamanguape River estuary (north of Paraí­­ba State). The fishermen have a wisdom about the "way of life†of the fishes, which composes their fishing universe. The fishermen knowledge is often very detailed about estuarine fishes behaviors, as migration, reproduction, way of self-defense and nourishment. The studies were done to rescue the ecological knowledge of these fishermen communities. The data were obtained through free interviews and questionnaires surveys applied to experimented fishermen. The results reveal different trophic categories created by the fishermen as: "fishes eating everything†(omnivores), "fishes eating everything they meet in front of them†(opportunists), "fishes eating crustacean†(carnivores), "fishes drinking foam†(plankton predators), "fishes eating mud and slime†(detritus feeders), and "fishes eating fishes†(piscivorous). The fishermen also reported other categories of behaviors as: "fishes living in manta†(shoal), "fishes making noise" "fishes jumping" "fishes that hatch inside their mouths†(oral hatching), fishes that are "brave, strong, and weak" fishes that have "smell†and fishes that "regurgitam†(regurgitate). The results obtained in this work supply information about the current state of the fishing activities culture of the fishermen studied, as well as attach importance to the preservation of those communities.