The ethnoecological knowledge of fishermen from three coastal lagoons in the northern of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract

The current study investigated the ethnoecological knowledge developed by fishermen through their fishing activities and searched for ways to match such knowledge to empirical data available in the scientific literature. The research involved fishermen from three coastal lagoons in the northern region of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, who were consulted through semi-structured interviews after the establishment of a trustful relationship over a period of three years with the interviewer. Their knowledge, in addition to its cultural and historical importance to these populations’ survival, in many ways matches scientific studies based on an ethnoecological approach. Their knowledge considers reproductive aspects, feeding habits, and migratory fishing as well as the consequences and the importance of sandbar openings to estuarine-dependent species and the understanding of the consequences of sandbar openings to lagoon trophic state and other organisms’ control (such as macrophytes). This set of data can contribute to the construction of plans for managing these ecosystems, in which fishermen may have a more important role than at present.