Fishing practices and ethnoichthyological knowledge in the fishing community of Miguel Alves, Piauí­­, Brazil

Abstract

Fishing communities acquire a wealth of knowledge through their activities and interactions with the aquatic environment. This study characterized the ethnoichthyological knowledge, fishing tackle and fishing practices of a traditional fishing community in Miguel Alves, Piauí­­. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, ichthyological specimen collection, direct observations and photographic records. Gender and age groups were compared in terms of Shannon-Wiener Diversity Index of citations and correlation between age, time in the trade and citation abundance was tested using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. A total of 42 species were identified in six orders and 20 families with Pimelodidae, Cichlidae and Serrasalmidae being the most representative. The traí­­ra (Hoplias malabaricus), barred sorubim (Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum) and the piranha (Pygocentrus nattereri) were the most frequently mentioned species. Gill nets, fish-hooks and cast nets were the most frequently used types of fishing tackle. Men and women had similar ShannonWiener Index values, while significant differences were found between youths and other age groups (adults and elderly). Age and time in the trade were weakly correlated with the number of cited fish species. This study shows that local knowledge was mainly acquired through traditional fishing activities.