BRAZIL-DEVELOPMENT: Fishing Crisis in Brazil

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 26 1997 (IPS) - Brazil’s small fishing industry is in crisis, despite the country’s wealth of rivers and more than 8,400 kilometers of coastline.

Brazil earned 250 million dollars from export sales of fish in the past 10 years – but spent a similar amount importing fish products. Btrazil’s current fish catch does not surpass 650,000 tons annually, nothing compared to the six to eight million tons of anchovies and sardines which Peru harvests for use in producing animal feed.

The official Institute of Statistics registered a record 7.65 million tons of fish caught in 1985, but the authority admits this figure is inflated by as much as 12 times the true amount.

According to Carlos Fisher, head of the Department of Fishing and Aquaculture of the Brazilian Institute of the Environment, “errors” in the gathering of statistics persisted until 1989. In some cases, tons were added twice, once when they were unloaded from the boats and when they were sold.

Nevertheless, he confirmed the sale of fish has been dropping steadily since 1985, although it is difficult to accept such a spectacular 10 year decline. The National Fish Council has estimated the 1985 production at one million tons.

Fisher blames the slump in the Brazilian fishing industry on the uncontrolled harvesting of the seas without any respect for an “off” season. The excessive overfishing of the last decade is reflected in current figures, he said.

However, according to those involved in fishing, one of the most important factors has been the Environment Institute’s policies, which have not concentrated on the development of industrial fishing but on the preservation of natural resources.

Fish companies are demanding the reopening of the Office for the Development of the Fishing Industry, under the Ministry of Agriculture, which existed during the 1980’s.

The Department of Fishing has estimated that there are 80,000 people involved in the Brazilian fishing industry, while another four million rely indirectly on this activity. Most of the country’s fisherfolk are engaged in private or family fishing, employing some 25,000 boats around the country. Large scale fishing involves only 1,600 ships and 300 companies.

In Mucuri, a community located in the south coast of the northeastern state of Bahia, the fishing community is suffering a crisis. Some attribute the crisis to the cellulose and paper factory, the Bahia Sul, whose liquid waste products have been dumped in the river since the factory was set up in 1994.

However, Marilio Martins Mafra, president of the Mucur fishing colony told IPS that the decline of fishing is related to weather changes and “abuses’ committed by local fishers in the past. Mafra said the fishers do not observe the closed season, they have no freezers and they have very flimsy boats.

Besides, the president said, big foreign ships fish with huge nets, dragging everything around, and invade the three mile littoral area (5,500 kilometers) reserved for small fishing. This is what is causing the fish to disappear, he says.

The fishing colony has 300 affiliates, but Mafra estimates there are around 2,000 people involved in fishing. The existence of well preserved mangroves on the coast assures the reproduction of fish and an abundance of crabs and other crustaceans which supply food for the local population.

The cellulose industry complies with all the local rules and has obtained an international certificate of good environmental practices.

Its liquid waste products are strictly processed and the waters of the River Mucuri are constantly analyzed to prevent its contamination, declared Renato Carneiro, public relations aide to the firm.

The existence of well-preserved mangroves on the coast assures the reproduction of fish and an abundance of crabs and other crustaciousn which supply food for the local population.

The cellulose industry complies with all the local rules and has obtained an international certificate of good environmental practices. Its liquid waste products are strictly processed and the waters of the River Mucuri are constantly analyzed to prevent its contamination, declared Renato Carneiro, public relations aide to the firm.

Brazil, in any case, will not have a fish industry that corresponds to the breadth of its sea coast. Along this coast, there are prevailing currents which elevate the temperature and salinity of the waters, which are found to have few nutrients, all of which does not favor a fish population, explained Fisher.

Further, the situation is worsened by the invasion of large fishing boats from other countries which carry off the most desireable fish species to the world market and out of the reach of the backwards Brazilian fishing technology.