Ornamental fishing in the region of Barcelos, Amazonas: socioeconomic description and scenario of activity in the view of “piabeiros”

Abstract The Negro river basin is considered the largest area of extractive of ornamental fish in Brazil. This area has fundamental importance for the populations from the Amazon. The present study aimed to describe socioeconomic profile of ornamental fishermen known as “piabeiros” in the Municipality of Barcelos, as well as the ornamental fishery, fisheries area, target species, environments, fishing techniques, equipment, capture techniques and main difficulties faced by the current activity. This study was carried out in municipality of Barcelos, through semi - structured interviews, with artisanal ornamental fishermen (N= 89). The main families of ornamental fish caught and traded were: Characidae, Lebiasinidae, Gasteropelecidae, Cichilidae, Anostomidae, Loricaridae, Potamotrygonidae and Gymnotidae. The main catchment areas were igarapés, lakes, flooded fields, beaches, river banks and igapó forest. Rapiché was the most used equipment in the fisheries both by the fishermen of the urban areas (43.81%) and rural (41.89%). Most of the fishermen are associated with the colony of fishermen of Barcelos (Z33). The data showed that the dynamics of ornamental fishing have changed in a short time and directly affected fishermen, in addition to the low age renewal with the participation of younger fishermen, threatening the transmission of ecological knowledge to future generations. As a result, the increase of the problems related to the productive chain and absence of public power to the activity, since ornamental fishing has already been treated as one of the main economic activities more important for the local communities and for the State of Amazonas.

摘要 内格罗河流域被认为是巴西规模最大的观赏鱼采捕产区，该区域对亚马孙地区民众具有至关重要的意义。本研究旨在刻画巴西巴塞卢什市（Barcelos）被称为“皮亚贝罗斯（piabeiros）”的观赏鱼渔民的社会经济特征，同时梳理当地观赏鱼捕捞业的产业概况、捕捞区域、目标物种、作业环境、捕捞技术、装备配置、捕获方式以及当前产业面临的主要困境。本研究于巴塞卢什市开展，通过半结构化访谈对89名手工观赏鱼渔民进行了调研。本次调研捕获并交易的观赏鱼主要隶属于以下类群：脂鲤科（Characidae）、鳉脂鲤科（Lebiasinidae）、胸斧鱼科（Gasteropelecidae）、丽鱼科（Cichlidae）、上口脂鲤科（Anostomidae）、甲鲶科（Loricariidae）、淡水魟科（Potamotrygonidae）以及裸背电鳗科（Gymnotidae）。主要捕捞区域包括支流河汊（igarapés）、湖泊、泛滥平原、滩涂、河岸以及洪水林（igapó）。拉皮谢（Rapiché）渔具是该市城乡渔民最常用的捕捞装备，城区渔民使用率为43.81%，农村渔民使用率为41.89%。多数渔民隶属于巴塞卢什市渔民合作社（Z33）。调研数据显示，观赏鱼捕捞产业的运作模式在短时间内发生了显著变化，对渔民群体造成了直接冲击；同时年轻渔民占比偏低导致从业群体年龄更新缓慢，这威胁到生态知识的代际传承。此外，产业链相关问题日益凸显，且公共部门未对该产业给予相应扶持——而观赏鱼捕捞业早已是当地社区乃至亚马孙州最为重要的经济活动之一。