artisanal fishing

Located in the Recôncavo Baiano, 100 km from Salvador, the Iguape Bay Marine Extractive Reserve (RESEX) is divided between the municipalities of Maragojipe and Cachoeira. The communities that now form the Reserve emerged during the period of slavery in the 17th to 19th centuries, concentrating a large number of sugar and tobacco plantations. Formerly enslaved people and their descendants , remained in the area after abolition, living mainly from subsistence agriculture and artisanal fishing.

2024

Today Reserve covers a total area of 10,074.00 ha, including mangroves and water, and is composed of twenty districts, seventeen of which belong to the municipality of Maragogipe, headquarters of the RESEX, and three to the municipality of Cachoeira. With a population of 4,960 people, about 903 families are involved in fishing and shellfish gathering activities in Iguape Bay (Machado, 2016). Artisanal fishing is the main source of food and offers not only food security but is also a source of income for many families in the region. Practiced traditionally for centuries, artisanal fishing brings together ancestral techniques kept alive in the memories of the Afro-descendant peoples who have occupied this territory since the colonial period.It is common to hear shellfish gatherers say that they learned to gather shellfish by accompanying their mothers and relatives to the mangroves as children:

“I come from a history of people who were enslaved and had to fight for their survival, fight for their freedom. I come from a humble family, a poor family, like all Black people and fishermen. I am continuing my family's legacy (...) My mother was a shellfish gatherer and I learned how to catch sururu, lambreta, mapê with her...”

Janete Barbosa - Guaí Community

Camboas along the river - traditional artisanal fishing and shellfish gathering method

History

Although the Recôncavo was a sugar-producing region until its decline in the early 19th century, much of its native vegetation was preserved. The type of soil, topography, and climate determined the distribution of crops. The area was divided into three main zones: Sugar was concentrated on the northern shore of Iguape Bay; the sandier soils located on higher ground in Cachoeira, on the Paraguaçu River, became the center of tobacco farming. Finally, in the south of the Recôncavo, subsistence farming predominated. Some families grew sugar in Iguape and combined this activity with tobacco farming in the fields of Cachoeira and cattle ranching in the interior.. Although sugar and tobacco depended on slave labor and shared the holds of merchant ships bound for Salvador, the two crops were largely separated geographically and socially. (SCHWARTZ, 1988).

In Maragogipe, the Suerdiek industry, one of the largest cigar producers in the state, employed about 5,000 workers but closed its doors in the second half of the 20th century, leaving a large number of people unemployed. Other factors also played an important role in shifting economic and demographic features: emigrants came to work in the construction of oil (Petrobras) and shipbuilding (Estaleiro Enseada do Paraguaçu) projects. With the end of construction and the decline of operations, the population became impoverished and had two options: move again in search or work or stay and engage in fishing and extractivism (PROST, 2010).

In the late 1990s, the Ministry of the Environment's Project for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Brazilian Biological Diversity (PROBIO) studied priority areas for conservation and sustainable use, assessing socioeconomic conditions and land use trends in Brazil and identifying critical areas. Based on a petition signed by residents of Santiago do Iguape, São Francisco do Paraguaçu, the Rural Workers' Union of Cachoeira, and fishermen linked to the Z7 fishing colony in Maragogipe, on August 11, 2000, the Baía do Iguape Marine Extractive Reserve was created over an area of 8.117.53 hectares, of which 2,831.24 hectares are mangroves and 5,286.29 hectares are Brazil’s internal waters. The purpose of creating the reserve on the part of environmental agencies, was to conserve a estuarine ecosystem of great ecological, cultural, and economic value, especially for the artisanal fishing communities that lived in its surroundings (ZAGATTO, 2013). On the other hand, the local population sought to guarantee their extractive livelihoods and, at the same time, attract public policies that would improve their living conditions, such as access to water, electricity, and sewage, structures that did not exist in the region at that time.

Canoes with cages for artisanal crab fishing

Canoes moored on the banks of Iguape Bay

In 2006, a change to the Resex area was approved to allow for the construction of the Enseada do Paraguaçu shipyard. Despite an increase in total area, the new delimitation was problematic for several reasons. First, a change in an already established area discredited the real protective capacity of the conservation unit and its management bodies, especially in the context of authorizing a project that would have a major socio-environmental impact on the region. In addition, the new area in the São Francisco do Paraguaçu region, included in the RESEX territory to “compensate” for the shipyard area, was already listed as a historical heritage site by IPHAN, which institutionally resulted in the heritage area being subservient to ICMbio (ZAGATTO, 2013). Furthermore, part of the community that was affected by the new boundaries of the Resex in the São Francisco do Paraguaçu region was in the process of territorial demarcation as a quilombola territory. In 2007, when the RTID was published by INCRA, recognizing the quilombola territory, the process of regularizing the quilombola territory was not finalized due to overlapping territories (ARAÚJO, DI BRANDA AND MOLINU, 2019). Amid the processes of establishing and altering the RESEX area and the process of delimiting the quilombola territory of São Francisco do Paraguaçu, various ethnic and social movements organized in the region. The democratic openings of the 1988 Constitution and Complementary Decree 4887 of 2003, which “regulated the procedure for the identification, recognition, delimitation, demarcation, and titling of lands occupied by remnants of quilombo communities,” strengthened claims of self-declaration as quilombolas and the defense of their rights.

In 2006, Bahia had 178 quilombo communities with certificates of self-recognition from the Palmares Cultural Foundation, nine of which are located in the rural area of Maragojipe. In 2007, the Quilombola Council of Maragojipe, formed by leaders from almost all the quilombola communities in the municipality and by members of the Pastoral Council of Fishermen (CPP), demanded that the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA) regularize the land tenure of a continuous territory comprising the communities of Guerém, Baixão do Guaí, Tabatinga, Jirau Grande, Guaruçu, Porto da Pedra, and Kizanga, located in the district of Guaí. On October 3, 2007, INCRA began the process of land regularization for these communities (ZAGATTO, 2011). At this point, several communities around the Iguape Bay that share identities as extractivists and quilombolas experienced the establishment of the RESEX as a way of guaranteeing their territories and also preserving their ways and means of life.

current situation

Fishermen and shellfish gatherers row out to sea to set crab traps

Currently, there are still many communities fighting for recognition and title as quilombolas. They face bureaucratic legislation that is extremely hard to navigate. In addition, the slow pace of the legal process makes the process long and exhausting. Pressure from capital also hinders the process, as evidenced by reports from several communities in the RESEX of large scale farmerswho violently oppose any demarcation process that interferes with their exploitation of the land. Some go so far as to impose sanctions on workers and threaten residents who support such movements.

In addition to all this, these communities still face challenges of another order. Growing violence due to the large population increase, combined with extreme poverty in the region and the accumulation of environmental conflicts generated by developments around the RESEX have a profound impact on local lifeways. Violence even prevents free movement and access to the mangroves, which in some specific regions of Maragogipe are dominated by drug trafficking. As we were warned several times, the dispute between organized crime factions has led to control over the movement of residents and non-residents alike, who are viewed with suspicion.Some residents have even lost their homes and are prevented from going to or returning from the mangroves on certain occasions. This has had an even greater impact on women, as they are the ones who mainly travel through the mangroves to carry out their subsistence activities.

Iguape Bay

Women harvesting shellfish in the Iguape Resex

Women's fishing in the Iguape Bay region centers mainly on three species. Oysters (Crassostrea rhizophorae) are harvested in camboas (wooden structures built within the tide) or cultivated on bamboo racks by both men and women. They are among the main shellfish sold in the area, and according to the shellfish gatherers themselves, 90% of oyster harvesting and farming—whether in dozens or in camboas—is done by women. Oyster farming has become so successful that the communities of the Quilombola Council of the Iguape Basin and Valley created the Oyster Festival, now in its 16th edition, to help distribute the surplus production. However, according to Pereira (2013), the most commonly harvested shellfish is Sururu (Mytella guyanensis), due to its abundance and ease of harvesting, processing, and transport. Sururu is a staple food for many fishing families in the Resex area and is harvested and processed exclusively by women. As with oysters and crabs, these shellfish are often sold through middlemen.

Women gathering shellfish in the mangroves of Engenho da Ponte

Basket full of oysters after shellfishing

Siri, on the other hand, is caught mainly by men, using cages set out along the tide line and collected daily. In the past, women also caught crabs using jereré, but with the introduction of cages, which are used in boat fishing, women have largely left this work, as they must remain on land to take care of their homes and families, and cage fishing yields a greater quantity than jereré fishing. Thus, women currently only participate in the processing. After being caught, the crabs are left in buckets with women who work with what they call “Siri de ganho” (crabs for profit). The expression refers to the remuneration they receive for processing crabs that they did not catch. Overall, however shellfish gathering in the Iguape Bay region is primarilydone by women, using artisanal methods, and is critical for the food security of the families who live there. Iaddition to fishing, life in the extractive reserve is varied. When introducing themselves, women typically highlight their multiple extractive skills, such as:

“My name is Agda, I am a fisherwoman, shellfish gatherer, flour maker, palm oil producer, beekeeper, housewife, and mother.”

This way of presenting oneself and one's work makes it clear that the extractive way of life consists of harvesting a range of food from the environment in which they live. In addition to their social and political roles, most of are mothers, housewives, local leaders, and, especially in the Quilombola Council region, may also occupy activist roles in their communities. Women are members of various political councils (RESEX Council, Quilombola Council, Núcleo de Mulheres Marias Felipas, CECVI- Centro de Educação e Cultura Vale do Iguape), as well as teachers in quilombola schools, communication managers, tour guides, and whatever else is necessary to support their community in its growth and socio-political empowerment. These women's care for the land guarantees the survival of both their communities and the environment in which they live. Concerns about the preservation of forests and mangroves, waste management, and contamination are part of their daily lives, as they suffer firsthand the effects of environmental impacts caused by various projects in the region. These impacts are affecting the condition of the mangroves more and more every day, leading to a decline in fish stocks, disease, reproductive cycle changes, the emergence of new species and the disappearance of others, deforestation, pollution, and changes in the characteristics of the water, mud, and mangroves. As described by Rosane Viana Jovelino, a quilombola researcher from the region:

The struggle of quilombola communities is grounded in a vision of sustainable and solidarity-based development, guided by the construction of citizenship and social organization, the democratization of local power, and the development of the capacity to retain and reinvest the wealth generated from local resources, in ways that respect both human and environmental values. This struggle marks a historical context of transforming practices and advancing the socioeconomic and cultural inclusion of quilombola peoples within Brazilian society. It represents the pursuit of affirming an identity built upon distinctive elements, of cultivating a reputation for singular characteristics that set the community apart within the broader national development model, whether as a trend toward affirming local traditions in response to exclusion, or as a movement toward integration on non-subordinate terms. (JOVELINO, 2018, p.182)

Environmental conflicts and synergistic impacts

"Because we live in an extractive reserve surrounded by companies, and many companies have set up shop, this has a very direct impact on this reserve, on this mangrove, on the ecosystem. We have noticed a lot of changes. There has been a decrease in fish and shellfish. Species have disappeared, and some invasive species, such as “Coral sol” and “Siri Caxangá,” which are not native to the area, have invaded the reserve and changed the way we fish."

Entrance to the mangrove swamp at low tide

Unfortunately, designating an area as a protected extractive reserve is not sufficient to protect the wider environment, its biome, its communities, and their ways of life. Commercial projects in the surrounding area dramatically affect the main waterways that flow through the Resex. Government agencies have also allowed high impact environmental projects to be carried out in the areas adjacent to the RESEX, creating collateral effects inside the protected area. The big issue, as stated by the RESEX manager, is that enforcement powers are distributed across different levels of government (federal, state, and municipal) making it difficult for unified coordination. Furthermore, it is important to consider the environmental damage not just from looking at one specific project (authorized by one level of government, for example) but at how various projects (which maybe be authorized or monitored by a completely different part of the government) are having synergistic effects on the environment. For example, when evaluated separately, projects seem to be potentially offsetable by mitigating measures, but when taken together they cause the destruction of the biome and local livelihoods. In practice,destruction is often resnderd bureaucratically invisible, dissolved in the different operating licenses of the projects:

“The impact of one industry amplifies the impact of another!”

Rafela Farias - Resex Manager

Ship docking at the Enseada do Paraguaçu Shipyard

Enseada do Paraguaçu Shipyard

The Enseada do Paraguaçu Shipyard is a private initiative that is 70% owned by EEP Participações S.A. (Odebrecht, 50%; UTC Engenharia, 25%; and OAS, 25%) and 30% by Kawasaki Heavy Industries (ARAÚJO, DI BRANDA E MOLINU, 2019). The shipyard was established with the aim of expanding the shipbuilding industry in Brazil. The location was chosen to revitalize the regional economy, which was in decline due to the downturn in the sugar cane and tobacco industries. In order to make way for the shipyard, the government changed the original demarcated territory of the Extractive Reserve, supposedly removing any legal or environmental barriers. However, the operation of such a large enterprise created devastating socioeconomic and environmental impacts in the region. The first of these impacts is that the new delimitation of the Extractive Reserve included São Francisco do Paraguaçu.

For the region of Maragogipe and its towns, the project was even more damaging. The demand for workers to build the shipyard brought a large contingent of people who overburdened the local infrastructure (mobility, urbanization, and real estate speculation). In addition, the number of outsiders coming from urban centers brought new problems to the rural community, greatly increasing drug use and prostitution in the region (COSTA, 2020). In environmental terms, the construction of the estuary also had a profound impact on the region's fishing community: fIrst, a large area was deforested for the construction of the project, which resulted in a reduction in mangrove areas, species, and fishing areas; in addition, the dredging of the estuary, which suspended fishing activities in the communities for six months, is cited by fishermen and shellfish gatherers as responsible for the emergence of the so-called “cansanção,” a marine sponge that appeared in the mud of the mangrove swamp at that time and causes severe itching when it comes into contact with the skin of shellfish gatherers. There are also reports of the emergence of new species such as “Siri Lemo” and “Coral Sol,” whose proliferation is exacerbated the concentration of freshwater in the Pedra do Cavalo Dam (ARAÚJO, DI BRANDA, AND MOLINU, 2019).

Soccer field in the mangrove swamp in Ponta de Souza

Pedra do cavalo

"There was water desalination, the water is fresh in winter and very salty in summer, and it wasn't like that before. Before, the salinity of the water was more normal, but today it's abnormal because of a hydroelectric plant, Pedra do Cavalo, which was built on the banks of the Paraguaçu River. They dam the water to produce energy and then release it without any respect, right? They don't respect the whole tidal cycle. When they release the water, it becomes too sweet and kills the shellfish, which then rots."

Janete Barbosa, shellfish gatherer - Guaí Community

A few kilometers from the Paraguaçu estuary is the Pedra do Cavalo dam. The structure, built in 1982, has the capacity to store approximately 4 billion cubic meters of water in an area of 163 km2. Initially, the unit was built to support the water supply network of Salvador and the surrounding region, but in 2005, it began to function not only as a dam but also as a hydroelectric plant operated by the Votorantim company. The big issue is that changing the flow of water impacts the aquatic environment as a whole. Changes in nutrients, salinity, riparian vegetation, and tidal propagation are the main impacts, in addition to the variation in water volume with the operation of the hydroelectric plant, which generates imbalances due to temporal and salinity variations that affect the reproductive cycles of species and can even contribute to the proliferation of invasive species (ARAÚJO, DI BRANDA, AND MOLINU, 2019).

Pedra do Cavalo Dam

Flooded mangrove

These changes directly impact fishing in the region, which is at the mercy of water volume fluctuations that rise and fall according to Votorantim's wishes, dragging nets, vegetation, fish, shellfish, and boats, carrying away oysters and killing various species. For example, ysters often die when the plant's floodgates are opened and the estuary is flooded with a very high volume of fresh water. Despite operating without the required environmental license, and despite a request by the ICMBio (the agency that manages the RESEX) to the Public Prosecutor's Office to suspend operations, bureaucracy between the different levels of government and which is influenced by local political interests, turns a blind eye to the plant's operation. The operating permit is issued by INEMA, the state agency responsible for environmental inspection, even though the project has not yet submitted an EIA-RIMA (Environmental Impact Study - Environmental Impact Report), which is essential for assessing the full extent of the environmental and social destruction caused in the the RESEX.

Eucalyptus plantation on the side of the road connecting Santiago do Iguape to Cachoeira

Pulp Industry

Pulp mills are also present in the vicinity of the Resex and have a major environmental impact. The Bracel corporation has extensive eucalyptus plantations in the Santo Amaro region, but due to a municipal law prohibiting large-scale eucalyptus cultivation in the municipality of Cachoeira, Bracel has now begun investing in bamboo cultivation. In order to avoid regulation many companies also reportedly break their plantations up into smaller parcels in order to circumvent the municipal law. Eucalyptus and bamboo plantations drain the land and alter the water tables that sustain the community.

Copener Florestal is part of the transnational Royal Golden Eagle corporation, based in Indonesia. The company has its own eucalyptus plantations on the north coast of Bahia and maintains a forestry development program through which it finances planting, incentivizing farmers by allowing them to repay in wood at harvest time. As in other regions, in the Iguape Valley, eucalyptus monoculture has had a significant impact on preservation areas, as it leads to the deforestation of native vegetation, and creates pollution due to the intensive use of pesticides. In addition to these impacts, eucalyptus plantations are fueling land disputes, as the populations that traditionally occupy the territories are being threatened with expulsion by local farmers interested in joining the Copener/Royal Golden Eagle forestry program. (p.78, ARAÚJO, DI BRANDA AND MOLINU, 2019)

Extensive eucalyptus plantations along the highways

In addition to plantations, pulp mills also impact the bay in other ways. On the banks of the Paraguaçu River, Santo Expedito Indústria de Papeis Ltda, a recycled paper mill, uses enormous amounts of water in its production processes, which is then dumped back into the river. Although the company claims that it does not use chemicals, the community claims that pollutants are indeed dumped into the waters of the Paraguaçu.

Mastrottoo

As is the case with the pulp and paper industries, tanneries also make intensive use of water in various chemical processes, producing large volumes of waste that are discharged into the Paraguaçu River, subsequently penetrating the soil in the region, causing severe pollution and significantly altering the water quality in the estuary. According to the manager of the RESEX, with environmental regulation of the company in the hands of INEMA (the state inspection agency), ICMBio's hands are tied. INEMA, in turn, has already changed the allowable level of heavy metals discharged into the bay by the company five times, including to now permit the release of chromium sulfate, which is highly toxic. The metal is used to transform animal skin into leather, which is highly resistant to biodegradation.

Disappearance and introduction of species

Since the 1970s, with the creation of the Pedra do Cavalo Dam, there have been reports of species disappearing from the region: sea bass, mullet, shrimp, stingrays, and catfish are some of those frequently mentioned. The community believes that the change in water salinity, increased by the containment of fresh water in the dam, has transformed the environment, impacting spawning and reproduction. Deforestation in the following decades with land occupation also resulted in silting around the bay and the disappearance of some fishing grounds, covered by silted land, driving away species such as sea bass, carapeba, rajada, and especially grouper, a species that was once abundant in the region and is now practically extinct. Many fishermen claim that the containment of water and then the abrupt opening of the floodgates washes away the mud and create clearer water, which is unattractive for the deposit of grouper eggs, as they prefer dark environments for reproduction.

Female fishers also frequently report a reduction in shellfish, especially when the floodgates at Pedra do Cavalo are opened, flooding the mangroves with fresh water and immediately killing the oysters, which are left “with their mouths open,” as the shellfish gatherers describe. Rosangela, a quilombola leader in the Kaonge region, states that:

Shellfish gatherer boiling oysters

“In the past, one trip at low tide yielded 5 or 6 buckets of sururu, but now they struggle to fill even one bucket, which after cleaning yields only 1 kg.”

Shellfish gatherer picking sururu

Mango sprout in mud

In the area around the shipyard, fishermen claim that dredging mud from the bottom of the bay has made the water dirty and driven away species such as xangó and mirim, which are used as bait for larger fish. This species began to appear with a reddish face after dredging and died more quickly, eventually became extinct in the region. It is not known exactly what caused this change, but many people in the area believe some chemical element in the water to be the most likely culprit. Different invasive seaweeds also appeared in the region, reproducing rapidly and taking over the mangroves. Another species that has been radically damaging fishing livelihoods, especially for shellfish, is the so-called “cansanção,” a type of sponge that causes intense itching and burning.. The itching penetrates clothing and remains there, often making it necessary to throw clothes away, as they retain the sponge and its effects. To prevent this, many shellfish gatherers use diesel oil and kerosene on their skin to avoid contact and still be able to gather shellfish. However, they are unaware of the side effects of constant use of these chemicals on the skin, especially when exposed to the sun for long periods (SILVA, 2018). Shellfish gatherers in the region believe that the sponge was brought by boats that circulate in the shipyard and the Petrobras oil facilities in the Recôncavo region.

According to research carried out by students of the Occupational Safety program at the Federal Institute of Bahia, Bárbara Manuela da Silva Santos et al. (2022), shellfish gathering involves multiple risks to the health and safety of women shellfishers: cuts, animal stings, exposure to sun and saltwater, repetitive movements, musculoskeletal disorders, contamination from chemical agents, skin irritation, gynecological illnesses, skin cancer, respiratory diseases, and varicose veins. As the list above shows, chemical contamination and skin irritation are particular risk factors and health hazards for women shellfishers working in the mangroves, linked to the various forms of water contamination caused by surrounding enterprises. Testimonies describe the invasion of a non-native species into the mangrove, which has made shellfish gathering much more difficult and exposes women to even greater risks. Unbearable itching and skin diseases have become part of the shellfishing experience. Despite numerous community complaints, government agencies have been unable to identify the root causes of the contamination, improve water quality, or eradicate the invasive species that has spread through the region, severely harming both shellfishing and the health of the women engaged in it.

Shellfish bucket with Sururu fish and kerosene

In a general sense, all of these factors demonstrate the limitations of examining environmental changes in isolation. Rather, an approach which looks at the various intersecting and cascading effects described above is needed. Finally, it is important to note that in a region where the ability to fish or shellfish gather literally means the difference between eating or going hungry, a decline in the catch can drastically affect the social conditions of thousands of families. Furthermore, as stated by the manager of RESEX, it is critical to recognize environmental changes also as public health problems.

Iguape Bay seen from above

Political Organization

The boundaries of the Extractive Reserve mainly cover the floodplain, excluding the surrounding land in the bay, where hundreds of families live in a symbiotic relationship with the mangrove.. With the establishment of the Resex, many families of fishermen and shellfish gatherers who lived on the banks of the mangrove began to suffer pressure to move from larger scale farmers and industry in the area. n. In response, the community had to unite to ensure their permanence in the territory and the maintenance of their traditional ways of life. It was in the management council that some entities supporting grassroots social movements, such as the rural workers' unions of Maragojipe and Cachoeira and the Pastoral Commission for Fishing (CPP8), disseminated information on the labor and social security rights of fishermen and farmers (such as fishing bans and rural retirement) and on agrarian legislation guaranteeing the right of quilombola communities to land (ZAGATTO, 2011). Since 2005, 18 of the 23 rural fishing/farming communities surrounding the RESEX(approximately 2,000 families) have self-identified as quilombolas. Despite the particularities of each community in terms of the origin and trajectory, the common element is that they all occupy land previously used for sugarcane cultivation by old sugar mills, often on the ruins of former large houses. (p. 19, ZAGATTO, 2013.)

As Carneiro da Cunha (2017) points out, the cultural identities of traditional communities cannot be reduced to legal categories or the rationality of the Brazilian nation-state. In this sense, the communities surrounding Iguape Bay began to identify themselves as quilombolas as part of a historical process of continuity and reinvention of their own forms of collective existence. The self-designation “quilombola” integrates practices of recognition and constitutes a contemporary expression of resistance in the face of threats of expropriation and the violence experienced on a daily basis. The women from traditional communities with whom I spoke report that identifying as “quilombolas” was fundamental to the achievement of various rights. Access to piped water, electricity, and social programs such as Bolsa Família and, more recently, Bolsa Verde, is directly associated with the affirmation of their own ways of life as traditional communities.

Seafood gatherer harvesting oysters at the foot of the mangroves

For example, the various fishermen's associations seek to access the rights guaranteed to men and women, such as the General Fishing Registry (RGP), which provides them social security, retirement, and benefits paid by the government. Beyond fishing, other organizations fight for education, culture, basic sanitation, drinking water, and electricity, for example. We highlight some of the organizations working to support women's artisanal fishing in the Resex.

Houses on the shores of Iguape Bay in Santiago do Iguape

Quilombola Council of the Iguape Basin and Valley, Iguape Valley Education and Culture Center (CECVI), and Marias Felipas

Sururu - local currency produced by the CECVI community bank

Currently, the Quilombola Council of the Iguape Valley is composed of 16 communities, all recognized by the Palmares Cultural Foundation (an agency linked to the Ministry of Culture that oversees the process of recognizing the identity of a quilombola community), and in the process of demarcation by the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA), the federal agency responsible for territorial demarcation. The Quilombola Council, which emerged concurrently with the RESEX due to the need for collective organization, has since been working to formulate various strategies for resistance. For example, the creation of processing and production centers, which organize producers into groups, encourages extractive production and the commercialization of products such as palm oil, oysters, handicrafts, and ethnic tourism that showcases and value local culture.

Production centers are a strategy for the self-management of collective work in the surrounding quilombola communities. The following centers are currently in operation: oyster farming, with 64 families; beekeeping, with 80 families; handicrafts and sewing, with 26 families; palm oil, with 143 families; traditional syrup, with 6 families; community tourism with associated production (Rota da Liberdade), with 26 families; a fish and seafood processing unit, with 12 families; a Community Solidarity Bank, with its own social currency (Sururu), circulating in 18 quilombos; and an audiovisual production center, with 27 young people.

Learn more about the production centers below. https://redecidadaniaquilombola.cecvi.org.br/

(Source: https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha-social-mais/2023/09/dupla-lidera-luta-de-quilombos-por-direitos-e-memoria-na-bahia.shtml, accessed on September 16, 2024)

In 2023, through a Bahia Produtiva grant, they were able to build a processing facility and a refrigerated truck for transporting and distributing seafood produced by all the communities that make up the quilombola council.

CECVI refrigerated truck

CECVI is the legal institution responsible for creating the community bank and local currency, the Sururu. The processing unit's facilities are not yet operational as they are undergoing adjustments in accordance with the requirements of the National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) in order to obtain the seal that allows the fish to be sold.

While these communities have faced considerable challenges, they have also successfully organized to carry out collective action. In addition to the process of self-declaration as quilombolas, in the struggle to secure their territory and ways of life, they formed numerous associations and action groups. For example, the various fishermen's associations seek to access the rights guaranteed to men and women, such as the General Fishing Registry (RGP), which provides them social security, retirement, and benefits paid by the government. Beyond fishing, other organizations fight for education, culture, basic sanitation, drinking water, and electricity, for example. We highlight some of the organizations working to support women's artisanal fishing in the Resex. As presented by quilombola researcher Rosane Viana Jovelino:

The Quilombola Council proposed the creation of Productive Nuclei as part of a vision of sustainable and solidarity-based development, aimed at strengthening the productive organization of quilombola communities in the Iguape Basin and Valley by drawing on their endogenous factors. In this sense, development is understood as being based on the rational use of resources and production factors available to quilombolas, while also providing them with new technological knowledge that is compatible with their reality. Such practices increase production, productivity, and autonomy, while also raising income through the vertical integration of production and the collective commercialization of community products, guided by sustainable standards. Through collective decision-making in the deliberative council, the communities established partnerships with public research institutions, which led to the creation of Productive Nuclei dedicated to Palm Oil (dendê), Oysters and Native Plants, Beekeeping, Fishing and Shellfishing, Agriculture, Handicrafts, and Community-Based Ethnic Tourism, as well as the Quilombola Solidarity Bank of Iguape (BSQI). These initiatives were integrated into a broader project named by the communities themselves the Route of Freedom, designed to expand opportunities for generating employment and income while ensuring the sustainability of quilombola communities. These nuclei are autonomous and managed by members of the producer groups that comprise them, governed by internal regulations drafted by quilombola producers themselves. They set their own organizational rules and development strategies, with action plans designed collectively by members and supported by the Center for Education and Culture of the Iguape Valley (CECVI). Decisions concerning each nucleus are made in monthly meetings by a commission composed of one representative from each group. The Council acts as a consultative and deliberative body in cases of conflicts that cannot be resolved internally within each nucleus. The nuclei are structured around solidarity economy and socio-environmental sustainability. Their results are collectively distributed, following the principles of solidarity economy. This structure continues to sustain, today, the Quilombola Solidarity Bank, which operates with its own social currency, the “sururu.” (JOVELINO, 2018, pp. 188–189)

As Sztutman suggests, the recipes of resistance in the Kaonge quilombo, such as Dona Vardé's syrup, do not have an ancestral link in the preservationist sense of the term, in which old recipes are maintained and passed down from generation to generation. The production of the “new” is part of these recipes in a movement that cooperates with quilombola authenticity policies. It is more a way of doing things with other protocols, as Carneiro da Cunha points out. (2007) (p.339, SILVERA and TAVARES, 2021)

Former warehouse and future processing unit of CECVI

Like quilombola self-identification, the formation of a group specifically for women is related to access to rights. As I have been told countless times, in the Iguape Basin Region, there are no gender issues. Women and men do everything, there are no gender limitations or gender violence. There are some roles that are more masculine or more feminine than others, but this is not experienced as exclusive to one gender and is not fixed; roles can be interchangeable, as Agda told me:

“Camboa is more of a man's job, but there are women who do it too. I myself have my camboa, as well as Luciane, my sister.”

Women participate actively in the coordination and decision-making processes of the different nuclei. Guided by principles set out in internal regulations collectively drafted by members of the Quilombola Council, each nucleus has its own representatives. However, no single person holds authority over a nucleus; decisions are made collectively in the meetings of the Quilombola Council. In this context, the Marias Felipas Women’s Nucleus operates through policies specifically directed toward women.

Logo of the Quilombola Women's Center of the Iguape Basin and Valley - Marias Filipas

Marias Filipas Center

As reported by Bárbara Manuela Silva dos Santos, a quilombola researcher from the region:

The Quilombola Women’s Nucleus of the Iguape Basin and Valley — Marias Felipas — was created on March 21, 2011, encompassing 16 quilombola communities of the Iguape Basin and Valley in the municipality of Cachoeira, Bahia. These communities are officially certified as quilombos by the Palmares Cultural Foundation: São, Kaonge, Kalembá, Caimbongo Velho, Calolé, Dendê, Imbiara, Engenho da Ponte, Engenho da Praia, Tombo, Engenho da Vitória, Engenho Novo, Engenho da Cruz, Brejo da Guaíba, Mutecho Acutinga, and Tabuleiro da Vitória. The Marias Felipas Nucleus “is an institution, a space for political articulation, aimed at strengthening the economic, cultural, and social dimensions of quilombola women in the Iguape Basin and Valley” (Internal Regulations of the Women’s Nucleus, approved at the 2018 Assembly). It emerged to foster dialogue among Black quilombola women, creating a space for political and social engagement in their struggles. The nucleus seeks to build alliances that strengthen and mobilize quilombola women in society, in order to secure public policies that guarantee women’s rights and respond to the specific needs they themselves have mapped out. It also works to strengthen the solidarity economy through the support of local enterprises managed by women, focused on production such as handicrafts, beekeeping, agriculture, oyster farming, palm oil, and tourism. In addition, one of its key objectives is to prepare women to access spaces of decision-making in society. (SILVA DOS SANTOS, 2022, pp. 38–39)

According to Rosângela, the coordinator, told me, when they created the group, they decided to include two women from each community so that everyone would be represented. However, due to difficulties in getting around the territorya “core group” gradually formed with women from Kaonge and the surrounding areas - Engenho da Ponte and Calembá. As mentioned above, quilombola and extractivist women wear mutliple hats: they are farmers, shellfish gatherers, teachers, housewives, and perform any other functions necessary for the benefit of their community. While we were talking at a meeting of the Núcleo Marias Filipas, the women, who are also mothers and teachers at the Kaonge Municipal School, were cutting cassava for the Junina festival they were going to hold the next day.

Mãe Lalu Institute

Mãe Lalu Institute and the Association of Women Fishers and Shellfish Gatherers of Santiago do Iguape

The Mãe Lalu Institute and the Association of Women Fisherwomen and Shellfish Gatherers of Santiago do Iguape work together. Created in 2006 to serve children and adolescents and provide educational and health support to young people from nine communities in the region, the Mãe Lalu Institute, chaired by Olgalice, mainly serves the young children of shellfish gatherers and fisherwomen in the region. This congruence resulted in Olgalice also being nominated for the presidency of the Association, even though she is not herself a fisherwoman or shellfish gatherer.. The nomination, based on the trust and caring relationship between Olgalice and women and their children at the Mãe Lalu Institute, resulted in the expansion of Olgalice's efforts for the community, and the two roles often merge in the daily struggles.

Posters displayed at the Mãe Lalu Institute

As Olgalice told me, the Institute is the fruit of the dream of her grandmother Mãe Lalu, an Umbanda priestessand an educator who dreamed of building a school for the community. This dream was passed down from generation to generation in the family, and today the Institute is made up of several family members, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of Dona Lalu who contribute in their areas of expertise: education, engineering, nutrition, and photography. .Oracy, Olgalice's sister, Coordinator of the Institute, and Municipal Councilor for Education in Salvador, emphasizes that the Institute's focus is on the development of reading and writing based on the cultural elements of the region. And there, posters with the alphabet created together with the students using words from their daily lives are displayed on all the walls, such as “d” for dendê (palm oil) and “z” for zumbi (from Palmares). The Institute currently serves 180 children from nine communities in the municipality of Cachoeira. There are four buildings on the site: the Institute where the children are welcomed, the Pascoal space, named after Olgalice's father, which is used for events, and the Casa Mãe Dete (Odete), where collaborators from Salvador and other cities are welcomed for events at the Institute. In addition, a small piece of land was donated by the family for the construction of the Casa das Marisqueiras (Seafood Gatherers House).

Olgalice and Oracy Coordinators of the Mãe Lalu Institute

Casa da Marisqueira - Santiago do Iguape

The Casa das Marisqueiras, the new headquarters of the Association of Quilombola Women and Seafood Harvesters of the Iguape Valley, was built by CoNAC - National Coordination of Rural Quilombola Black Communities, through a grant that provided funds for the construction of the processing unit, but not for the purchase of the land. Thus, the Mãe Lalu Institute decided to donate 70m2 for the construction of the building. As Olgalice mentioned, through the FUNDO ELAS public notice, she was able to obtain training in hygiene and handling for the shellfish gatherers and equipment for various productions. The Casa das Marisqueiras is the result of winning several public grants For example, the furniture was donated by Caixa Econômica Federal; the digital equipment was obtained through the Elas fund; the sewing machines were received through another grant and will serve as an alternative income for those who can no longer gather shellfish in the mangroves; and the productive backyards will serve to revive the medicinal herbs and traditional recipes of their ancestors.

Thus, the Casa das Marisqueiras is a place that not only addressess their work as shellfish gatherers, but also situatesshellfish gathering as a way of life that goes beyond work. As Olgalice told me, this is the difference between the fishing colony and the Association: the colony deals with the work life of the shellfish gatherer, while the Association deals with her entire life, encompassing cultural, social, gender, family, and other issues that arise when the working life of that woman in the mangrove is no longer viable. In the manager words:

“Government policies must be created with specific realities in mind; otherwise, they are meaningless — if they don’t reach the populations who actually need them.”

Another issue raised by Olgalice concerns the health of the shellfish gatherers, since many of them spend around 7 to 8 hours with their pelvic area submerged in water, which requires specific health care for these bodies. This year, Olgalice proudly reported that despite various bureaucratic and standardization hurdles—often ignoring the particularities of the place—she managed to include sururu in the school meals through the PNAE (National School Feeding Program, a government initiative aimed at purchasing food from small local producers for use in schools). In this way, the community is strengthened both through the flow of its products and through the preservation of its food culture within schools. Olgalice is now working to obtain, through a public grant from SEPROMI (Secretariat for the Promotion of Racial Equality and of Traditional Peoples and Communities), working capital that would remain with the Association and allow it to purchase all the seafood caught by the shellfish gatherers. The greatest difficulty in valuing shellfish lies in the urgency of these women’s financial needs: what is harvested is sold immediately at very low prices to middlemen. As Olgalice points out, if this working capital were secured, the Association could buy from the shellfish gatherers at much higher prices than they currently receive. As she explains, one kilo of sururu is sold to middlemen for R$20.00, while under the school meal procurement bid the Association pays them R$29.00/kg—an increase of nearly 50% in their income. The processing unit already has the inspection seal and barcode—typically major hurdles to the commercialization of shellfish in other communities. With the construction of the headquarters in compliance with health surveillance standards, these seals and codes were obtained and are no longer an obstacle.

Logo of the Association of Quilombola Women and Shellfish Gatherers of the Iguape Valley

Work tools obtained through public grants for the Casa das Marisqueiras

Another major achievement of the Association is its commitment to mitigating social and environmental impact, which is often overlooked due to the more pressing survival issues faced by these populations. For example, the Association saw waste as another opportunity for income and is now working to use shellfish waste to make other products that can also generate income for women. With funding from a public grant, they were able to buy the infrastrucure and tools necessary to store shellfish shells that can then be crushed, bagged, and sold. Crushed crab shells are used in the manufacture of toothpaste and also serve as a food supplement. Sururu shells are used in the manufacture of bio-jewelry. Oyster shells are used in the manufacture of bricks (called green blocks) and cement in construction and also serves as a powerful natural fertilizer.

The work of the Association of Women Fishers and Shellfish Gatherers of Santiago do Iguape represents the development of the struggle within the territory, one that goes beyond the typical and immediate issues usually defended by organizations. It seeks instead to renew and rethink the lives of these women beyond their trades, through a broader perspective that embraces autonomy, environmental and territorial struggle, culture, the right to education, and women’s empowerment within their communities, through their own ways of life. This resonates with the proposal of Nego Bispo, who speaks of aquilombamento as a strategy of resistance:

"And thus, instead of merely having rights to public policies... we will have our own conditions and our own policies." (Bispo, 2019)

Spirituality

In the Iguape Basin, artisanal fishing and shellfish gathering are much more than subsistence techniques or economic activities: they are deeply intertwined with the spirituality of local communities and their sense of belonging. African-based religions, such as Candomblé, permeate the daily lives of many fisherwomen and shellfish gatherers, through rituals, songs, legends, and everyday gestures that honor the orixás, the enchanted beings, and their ancestors. Spirituality, in this context, integrates ancestral knowledge with sustainable practices. Fishing and shellfishing is also praying, asking permission, offering a gift, caring, pulling the threads of memory, listening to the environment and, above all, to the waters. Iemanjá, Oxum, and Nanã, orixás linked to the waters and mangroves, are widely revered as protectors of these populations. It is common for women to make offerings and hold ceremonies before and during fishing and shellfish gathering trips. These rituals not only seek protection and abundance, but also strengthen community ties and the connection with nature. Festivals in the region, such as February 2, Queen of the Sea Day, or the Oyster Festival, celebrated in Quilombo Kaonge, exemplify the fusion between tradition, spirituality, and sustainability. These are remarkable moments of celebration of Afro-Brazilian culture and reaffirmation of these communities' commitment to their heritage. These ways of life challenge modern dualisms between economy and spirituality, between nature and culture, producing emerging ecologies that reinscribe the experience of the diaspora as a force that produces worlds where (re)existing is also continuing to fish, gather shellfish, celebrate, and care.

The interview was recorded in Cachoeira, in the Recôncavo Baiano, a historic region known for its strong Candomblé traditions and the preservation of African roots. Cachoeira is located approximately 40 kilometers from the Santiago do Iguape Extractive Reserve (Resex), a sacred site where, as throughout Bahia, nature is understood as a manifestation of the divine. Mãe Abalojí speaks about the profound connection between faith and environmental conservation, emphasizing that protecting these ecosystems is a way of honoring the orixás. The video also includes footage from the Yemanjá celebrations in Salvador, highlighting the deep relationship between religiosity and the waters — a symbolic extension of the struggle of traditional communities to preserve sacred spaces.

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