Fishers from the Amazon region gathered to exchange ideas about common challenges and opportunities to sustain and develop indigenous fisheries in the light of the SSF Guideline

França, Lorena

Gerhardinger, Leopoldo Cavaleri

Rainho, Ana Paula

Spolti, Dafne

English

Aquatic Commons

33
JUNE 2019
RepoRt
Brazil
Indigenous peoples of several Amazon regions came together in Manaus in Brazil on March 27-28, 2019, to learn 
about national and international small-
scale fisheries policies at a seminar 
titled ‘Indigenous Fisheries in Amazon 
State and the Voluntary Guidelines for 
Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries (SSF 
Guidelines)’. The meeting also helped 
create bridges between indigenous 
and coastal-marine artisanal fishers’ 
organizations that have already 
been consistently discussing the SSF 
Guidelines for years. Indigenous 
communities of Amazon had not been 
involved in previous co-ordinated 
discussions, even though the fishing 
activity is considered fundamental to 
hundreds of ethnic groups in the region. 
Fish is a very important source 
of protein-rich food in interior 
watercourses. It is a core element of 
the cosmologies of various indigenous 
groups. For some, fishing commences 
with the careful manufacturing of traps. 
For others, fish are central to rituals 
of social exchange and for nurturing 
the spirit. However, several conflicts 
involving indigenous territories and 
associated fishing resources have been 
increasingly reported in relation to non-
indigenous production sectors. Various 
sustainable fisheries initiatives are 
already under way, guided by a human 
rights approach, as recommended by 
the SSF Guidelines. 
The Manaus seminar was co-
organized by the International 
Collective in Support of Fishworkers 
(ICSF) and the NGO, Operação 
Amazônia Nativa (OPAN), with the 
support of the Food and Agriculture 
Organization of the United Nations 
(FAO), the NGO Social Environmental 
Institute (Instituto Socioambiental or 
ISA), in partnership with the National 
Indigenous Foundation (Fundação 
Nacional do Índio or FUNAI) and the 
Sea Memories Collective network 
(Coletivo Memórias do Mar or CMM). 
The objective was to share the contents 
of the SSF Guidelines and to discuss 
fishing rights, including those derived 
from indigenous policies and beyond. 
The seminar also aimed at recording 
the reality of indigenous fisheries in the 
Amazon state, through oral reports of 25 
participants from 16 ethnic groups,They 
included the Apurinã, Baniwa, Baré, 
Deni, Desano, Kambeba, Kanamari, 
Kokama, Kulina, Munduruku, Mura, 
Paumari, Piratapuia, Tenharim, Tikuna 
and Tukano. 
Amongst other topics, the 
participants shared knowledge and 
experiences about their fishing and 
fisheries management practices in rivers 
and lakes for species such as the huge 
fish ‘Pirarucu’ (Arapaima gigas) and 
‘Tambaqui’ (Colossoma macropomum), 
and about fishing tourism. They also 
discussed and reported extensively on 
the array of threats to their traditional 
territories and livelihoods. 
True partners 
Representatives of various 
governmental and non-governmental 
social movements and indigenists’ 
organizations were also present, 
and, as true partners of the 
seminar, contributed with their rich 
understanding of challenges and 
opportunities facing indigenous 
fisheries. Among them were FUNAI, 
the Secretariat of Aquaculture and 
Fisheries (Secretaria de Aquicultura 
This article is by Ana Paula Rainho (anap.
rainho@gmail.com), oceanographer and 
anthropologist, and Ph. D. candidate at 
the Federal University of Santa Catarina, 
Brazil; Lorena França (alorenafranca@
gmail.com), anthropologist and  Ph. D. 
candidate at the Federal University of Santa 
Catarina, Brazil;  Dafne Spolti (dafne@
amazonianativa.org.br), journalist at 
Operação Amazônia Nativa, Brazil; 
and Leopoldo Cavaleri Gerhardinger 
(leocavaleri@gmail.com), oceanographer 
at the Oceanographic Institute, University of 
São Paulo, Brazil 
Kickoff Time
Fishers from the Amazon region gathered to exchange ideas about common challenges and 
opportunities to sustain and develop indigenous fisheries in the light of the SSF Guidelines
Various sustainable fisheries initiatives are already 
under way, guided by a human rights approach, as 
recommended by the SSF Guidelines. 
34
SAMUDRA RepoRt No. 81
e Pesca) from the federal and state 
government, ISA, Centre of Indigenist 
Work (Centro de Trabalho Indigenista 
or CTI) and the Wildlife Conservation 
Society (WCS). 
The seminar began with a 
presentation of the SSF Guidelines 
in the morning by ICSF Members 
and by the representatives of the 
small fishworkers’ movement in 
Brazil (CONFREM and MPP). In the 
afternoon, four groups were formed 
with representatives of several Amazon 
watershed basins present at the seminar. 
Supported by voluntary facilitators of 
participant organizations, every group 
discussed the problems, opportunities 
and demands of indigenous peoples in 
relation to fisheries. Several demands 
were brought to the table, including the 
need to enable more opportunities for 
indigenous communities to participate 
in fisheries management, community-
based tourism and aquaculture. All 
the participants greatly appreciated 
the opportunity to learn about the SSF 
Guidelines and acknowledged the need 
for additional seminars to advance their 
knowledge and actions on such matters. 
On several occasions, one 
participant, Kora Kanamari, appealed 
for support to Javari’s Valley (Vale 
do Javari), which is the largest 
indigenous land in Brazil where many 
indigenous peoples live, including 
recently-contacted and isolated 
groups in the frontier between Brazil, 
Peru and Colombia. This is one of the 
most critical hotspots of overwhelming 
violations, promoted by illegal fishing 
and other resources extractions and 
violent conflicts brought on by illegal 
timber felling, mining, oil drilling, 
and drug trafficking activities. “What 
makes us sad is that the government 
has everything in terms of budget, 
resources, but so many people in 
Javari’s Valley are suffering”, said 
Kanamari. One of the suggestions 
of indigenous participants was 
the organization of a seminar at 
Javari’s Valley. At the end of Day 
One, Kanamari invited the seminar’s 
organizing team to present the SSF 
Guidelines to his village. 
Dafne Spolti
indigenous peoples of several amazon regions came together in Manaus in Brazil during 27 to 28 March 2019 to learn about small-scale 
fisheries policies at a seminar on ‘indigenous fishers in amazon State and the SSf Guidelines’
Several demands were brought to the table, including 
the need to enable more opportunities for indigenous 
communities to participate in fisheries management, 
community-based tourism and aquaculture. 
B r a z i l
35
JUNE 2019
r e p o r t
On the second day, participants 
worked in thematic groups around 
the most recurrently discussed issues 
of the first day, including fisheries 
management and commercialization; 
sport fishing; tourism; and aquaculture. 
A vibrant exchange of experiences and 
ideas followed throughout the day. The 
management of the ‘Pirarucu’ fisheries 
was one of the most highlighted issues 
during the seminar. Most participants 
chose to enrol in the fisheries 
management and commercialization 
working group, to exchange 
experiences and benefits, hearing and 
learning with their parents. 
Fisheries management started to 
gain force in Amazon in the region 
of Tefé in 1999, in the middle of 
the Solimões river among riparian 
communities which gained technical 
advice from the Mamirauá Institute of 
Sustainable Development. Ana Claudia 
Torres, the Fisheries Management 
Programme Co-ordinator for the 
Mamirauá Institute, was present at the 
seminar. She explained that now other 
indigenous villages and communities are 
also developing fisheries management 
programmes in their lakes, with the 
support of OPAN and FUNAI. Fisheries 
management refers here to self-
organized control of certain species 
in particular territories, including 
the observation of rules to achieve 
sustainable fisheries. Communities 
that opt for the management have to 
undertake the counting of Pirarucu 
populations, and to promote community 
vigilance of their territories to inhibit 
invasions that public authorities are not 
able to control. Other measures are also 
taken such as rules for minimum capture 
sizes and quotas that are assigned by 
the governmental agency for federal 
nature conservation and protected areas 
(Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação 
da Biodiversidade or ICMBio). 
Indigenous groups that had not 
yet enrolled in fisheries management 
schemes also took part in the working 
group, given their manifest interest 
to kick-off management processes 
in their own territories. “To us who 
are initiating Pirarucu fisheries 
management, the seminar, principally, 
was an opportunity to acquire more 
knowledge”, said Rogério Fleuri Dutra 
Caldas, who lives in the Indigenous 
Land of Itixi-Mitari and is the regional 
co-ordinator of the Federation of 
Organizations and Communities of 
Indigenous Peoples of Mid Purus 
River (Federação das Organizações 
e Comunidades dos Povos Indígenas 
do Medio Purus or FOCIMP). He 
highlighted the potential brought 
by the SSF Guidelines to support 
indigenous fisheries: “We believe that 
these (SSF Guidelines) can strengthen 
our reserves, through dialogue with 
prefectures, other governmental 
organisations, and also with NGOs.” 
OPAN’s indigenist, Felipe Rossoni, 
a specialist researcher in participatory 
fisheries management, highlighted 
the existence of a direct link between 
Pirarucu management and the SSF 
Guidelines: “Food security needs to 
be put in first place—security in the 
sense of safeguarding access to food 
and securing food sovereignty so that 
you have the right to choose what 
to eat, involving cultural and ethnic 
issues,” observed Felipe. He also 
mentioned other points of affinity 
between Pirarucu management and 
the SSF Guidelines, such as territorial 
rights, the value of traditional 
knowledge, self-esteem, conditions for 
gender equity and greater marketing 
autonomy. “Management is an example 
of citizenship,” stressed Ana Claudia 
Torres of the Mamirauá Institute. She 
acknowledged the power of Pirarucu 
fisheries management to activate 
collective action around cross-cutting 
issues affecting the livelihoods of local 
fisheries communities, such as the key 
role of women in organizing activities. 
Pioneering regulation
The working group discussing sport 
fishing tourism activities in indigenous 
villages delved into the experience 
of the Baré people in the mid-Rio 
Negro region, downstream of the São 
Gabriel da Cachoeira settlement. They 
have initiated pioneering regulation 
of formerly illegal and destructive 
Tucunaré (Cichla spp.) sport fishing 
activities conducted by tourism boats in 
indigenous rivers. 
Fisheries management refers here to self-organized 
control of certain species in particular territories, 
including the observation of rules to achieve sustainable 
fisheries.
36
SAMUDRA RepoRt No. 81
B r a z i l
Ever since 2014, an initiative 
facilitated by FOIRN, ISA and FUNAI 
have established contracts with 
interested companies, in order to 
generate income to local communities 
while respecting and abiding by social 
and ecological rules and norms. This 
process flourished to successfully 
inspire communities in other subsidiary 
rivers of Purus. During the working 
group discussions at the seminar, the 
indigenous Tenharim of the South 
Amazon state (Humaitá city) became 
interested in learning details of such 
regulations, given that they had already 
initiated some fishing accords in their 
territories.  
The aquaculture working group, 
in turn, started with criticisms of 
conventional commercial aquaculture, 
which is not friendly to indigenous 
communities’ realities and demand a 
high dependency of external subsidies 
from non-indigenous institutions. Paulo 
Adelino de Medeiros, a researcher based 
at the Amazonian Federal Institute of 
Education, Science and Technology 
(Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência 
e Tecnologia do Amazonas or IFAM) in 
the city of Maués, shared his research 
findings on the viability of family-based 
aquaculture, which aims to support 
the demands of local and traditional 
communities. Paulo has been working 
with the Sataré-Mawé to develop 
a family approach to aquaculture 
that promotes low-cost production 
practices and minimum fish-food 
usage, with simple measures that can 
give communities higher autonomy 
from continuous technical advice. 
Participants of this working group were 
very enthusiastic in following up with 
discussions about the development of 
family aquaculture in other rivers, and 
agreed to build a participative project 
to take this opportunity forward.
Indigenous participants
At the end of the day, participants 
gathered in a final plenary to decide 
about future steps. At this stage, the 
Fisheries and Aquaculture Secretary 
of Amazon state showed up and 
talked about their interest to deal 
with the demands brought up by the 
indigenous participants at the seminar. 
A representative from the federal-level 
GUStaVo SilVeira
Map showing the territorial range of qualitative data recorded during the seminar
37
JUNE 2019
r e p o r t
https://sites.google.com/site/ssfguidelines/
brazil 
Brazil National Seminars - June 2016
https://www.icsf.net/en/samudra/article/
EN/80-4378-Roundup.html 
organizational profile: operação 
Amazônia Nativa (opAN)
https://www.icsf.net/en/samudra/article/
EN/77-4305-A-Backbreaking-.html
A Backbreaking Struggle
https://amazonianativa.org.br/ 
opAN-operação Amazônia Nativa
For more
Dafne Spolti
presentation of the results of the working group of purus river and Juruá river who believe that these (SSf Guidelines) can strengthen their 
reserves, through dialogue with prefectures, other governmental organizations, and also with nGos  
counterpart Secretary of Aquaculture 
and Fisheries said she would take the 
results of the seminar back to Brasilia 
where it would be discussed with her 
superiors in the context of fisheries 
policies for North Brazil. Participants 
expressed their desire for the conduct 
of other seminars to disseminate the 
SSF Guidelines. They also delineated 
a list of villages interested in fisheries 
management and family aquaculture. 
They highlighted the need for greater 
participation of women in events 
and issues related to fisheries in the 
region. They also expressed their 
desire to connect with international 
indigenous movements to discuss the 
SSF Guidelines. 
As a first experience in bridging 
the world of Amazonian indigenous 
fishers with the principles and vision 
of the SSF Guidelines, the seminar 
revealed that while most participants 
had no background information about 
the Guidelines, places exist where 
sustainability measures are being taken 
up along the lines of the SSF Guidelines. 
The leader of the National 
Fisherwomen Articulation, Josana Pinto 
da Costa, emphasized: “Indigenous 
and traditional communities already 
promote the Guidelines, but with 
another name.” Indigenous fishers 
also realized how their practices, such 
as Pirarucu management, already 
anticipate several of the objectives 
and principles of the SSF Guidelines. 
Nevertheless, considering that various 
peoples and regions live under 
unfavourable conditions, there is a 
great interest among indigenous fishers 
to know more about their rights. There 
is also a huge demand for expanding 
participatory fisheries management 
in regions with a lot of potential, but 
where access to information has been 
scant and/or collective action has not 
already been initiated. 
Important instrument
Governmental and non-governmental 
organizations also did not know much 
about the SSF Guidelines, and they 
expressed their interest in taking 
information back to their own circles. 
Evidently, the SSF Guidelines can 
become an important instrument to 
strengthen the organization of fishers 
and empower indigenous movements 
to fully become sovereign agents in 
the promotion of fisheries resources 
sustainability and food security, and 
hence realize and reaffirm the very 
nature of their territorial rights.   


Brazil: Kickoff time

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Brazil: Kickoff time

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