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Artisanal fishers’ ethnobotany: from plant diversity use to agrobiodiversity management

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Abstract

Artisanal fishers interact with plants in many ways, and with different intensities. In spite of being characterized by fisheries, Caiçaras use plants with varied degrees of management, since the less intensive management actions, extraction of forest products, until intensively management actions through the cultivation of the agrobiodiversity. This study presents the results of different research projects and includes the North and the South regions of São Paulo state coast. The objective is to characterize the diversity of extracted and cultivated species by traditional fishers at Southeastern region of Brazilian Atlantic forest. Ethnobotanical surveys revealed a high diversity of plants known and used, ranging up to a richness of 272 species known in two communities for the South coast, most of them being native. However, depending on the management intensity, this diversity can be rather particularized: we found 68 varieties of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) at North region and 58 varieties at the South region, with exclusive vernacular names. Through an ethnobotanical perspective, we compare and discuss the different dynamic systems underlying the relationships between fishers and plants. The diversity of cultivated plants is analyzed in depth, focusing on the historical importance of agriculture among people who are currently characterized as fishers. A schematic model is proposed to explain the dynamic systems operating in the relationships between fishers and plants.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Brazilian agencies that provided financial support to this research: FAPESP 03/13688-9 (N. Peroni); FAPESP 04/02301-9 e 01/05263-2 and CNPq productivity scholarship (A. Begossi). Finally, we are very grateful to all interviewed people from the Caiçaras’ communities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fisheries and Food Institute (FIFO), Rua Coronel Quirino 1636, Campinas, SP, 13025-002, Brazil

    Nivaldo Peroni & Alpina Begossi

  2. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, ECZ/CCB/UFSC, Campus Universitário Trindade, Florianópolis, 88010-970, Brazil

    Nivaldo Peroni

  3. Fisheries Management and Training Program, PREAC-UNICAMP, Rua Coronel Quirino 1636, Campinas, SP, 13025-002, Brazil

    Alpina Begossi

  4. Department of Ecology and Zoology, Center of Biological Sciences, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Rua João Pio Duarte Silva 114 B 501, Florianópolis, 88037-000, SC, Brazil

    Natalia Hanazaki

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  1. Nivaldo Peroni
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  2. Alpina Begossi
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Correspondence to Nivaldo Peroni.

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Peroni, N., Begossi, A. & Hanazaki, N. Artisanal fishers’ ethnobotany: from plant diversity use to agrobiodiversity management. Environ Dev Sustain 10, 623–637 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-008-9151-6

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