Emergent Ecologies
Ponta de Souza, Coqueiros and Najé
Ponta de Souza, Coqueiros, and Najé are communities located in the municipality of Maragogipe and are located in the southwestern portion of the Resex. The region was previously occupied by large scale plantations run first by slave labor and later by low-wage workers toiling in slavery-like conditions., The region suffered from an economic decline due to changes in the tobacco market. Workers remained in the region, forming small communities, surviving on fishing and family agriculture. They had little access to rights and public infrastructure. After the establishment of the RESEX, public policies gradually reached the region, but many environmentally degrading projects in the surrounding area continue to have an impact. These include the Pedra do Cavalo hydroelectric plant and the Enseada do Paraguaçu shipyard, as well as growing tourism in the region, which is bringing about changes to the landscape.
Sand mangrove in the Ponta de Souza region
The changes in the landscape are described below by researcher Daiana dos Santos. Coordinator of the Community Association of Fishermen in the Ponta de Souza neighborhood, M.A.student in Social Policy and, and shellfish gatherer. Through interviews with many women in the region and her long experience in the struggle for fishing communities, Daina presents the various changes and conflicts experienced by women shellfish gatherers in the community.
Daiana dos Santos
One example of environmental changes noted by the fisherwomen is the filling in of a large strip of mangrove forest in 2021, ordered by the mayor at the time, in order to create an artificial beach and promote tourism in the community. This had a major impact on fishing grounds in the region and on the livelihoods of fishing families. Boat fishing and shellfish gathering on the sandbanks, including for species such as chumbinho, mapê, sururu, and other mollusks, is very strong and provides not only the main food source for these families but is an essential source of income for their survival.
Structure built on the banks of the bay by filling in the mangrove swamp to build restaurants and bars
In the communities of Najé and Coqueiros, which fortunately recently obtained RTID (Technical Report for Identification and Delimitation) status as quilombolas, the community itself is forced to fill in some parts of the mangrove because they have nowhere else to live and are squeezed between the mangroves and the quarry that surrounds the communities. This housing gap is due to the large population growth that has been occurring in the region, both due to the increase in families and the large migration of outsiders to work in the construction of development projects, such as Enseada Paraguaçu. After construction, many workers who were brought to the region to perform manual labor ended up settling permanently. Fish quickly turned into the main source of food for most of the new inhabitants. Cage fishing, which is very common in the region, is mainly practiced by men, as it requires steering and owning canoes. Women, therefore, often take on the role of processing the crabs caught by the men.
Canoes with crab traps
Environmental protection vs. extractive livelihoods
"Preserving the mangrove is essential, but to what extent does this preservation preserve the fishermen's livelihoods? We know how to cut and so the mangrove will grow back, but the Paraguaçu shipyard cut down the equivalent of 20 soccer fields of mangrove. Where is the enforcement? Then the fisherman cuts one mangrove branch to cook the fish on and is accused of going against nature. What is going against nature? Is it our ancestral knowledge? Or is it these companies that take everything?"
Dense mangrove forest on the banks of Ponta de Souza Bay
Tânia, an experienced shellfish gatherer in the region, reports that the mangrove forest has become too tall, causing the mud to become deeper and making it difficult to enter to fish. Some fish species are also disappearing due to the flow of fresh water from the Pedra do Cavalo Dam. She reports that when the floodgates are opened and the mangrove is flooded with freshwater, some fish take a long time to return to the region to reproduce. The desalination of the mangrove area contributes to the thickening of the mangrove and a decline in the proliferation of shellfish.
The densification of the mangrove and its impact on fishing
Dona Ina, another very experienced shellfish gatherer in the region, also complains about a new density in the mangroves, since previously the wood was removed for house construction and for use in wood-fired ovens, in addition to pottery production that took for many years in the region and but which was closed with the establishment of the RESEX. For Dona Iná, the removal of wood created open spaces in the mangroves, craters that keep the mud warm and provide a favorable habitat for more shellfish and crustaceans. She sees this as a form of sustainable management long practiced by traditional communities. Today, with the ban on removal of the mangroves, the vegetation is very high and there are no gaps for the sun to enter. The mud is deep, more difficult to navigate, with smaller shellfish and in smaller quantities. In addition, it promotes the proliferation of fungi that cause itching, afflicting the shellfish gatherers. The way the water from the Pedra do Cavalo dam is discharged into the river also disrupts the mud in the mangroves, leaving a rotten smell, and creating deeper water, which makes women afraid of getting stuck and unable to leave the mangroves.
Sand shellfish in the crown
One of the forms of shellfish gathering by women that is still very common in the region is shellfish gathering in the sand mounds, which emerge at low tide. In groups, the women organize themselves to go together, gather shellfish, return to the community, and process the catch in the afternoon together.
Women gathering chumbinho shellfish in the mangrove - sandy mangrove
The day of a shellfish gatherer begins very early, often before dawn, as they prepare for their work. Often before leaving, these women need to leave food for their husbands who are going out to sea, or for family members who will remain at home in their absence. At 5 a.m., they are already on their way to the mangrove swamp when the tide is low and the sandbanks will be exposed with the early low tide. Chumbinho is one of the main shellfish caught on the sandbanks (sand mangroves). There are two ways to harvest chumbinho, one of which is during high tide, feeling around with your hands in the water before the sandbanks emerge as the tide recedes. When the sandbanks emerge, the fisherwomen use the second technique to remove the chumbinho using hoes and scrapers. Chumbinho is a shellfish that has several names: bebe fumo, sarnambi, conchinha... But the name chumbinho refers to its weight, which is heavy, and which reflects the great effort required to transport it after harvesting. Mapê is a shellfish that is caught with a hoe in the sand or in the mangroves. It is fished at low tide when the water is very low, as it is an agile shellfish and flees quickly when water is present. Great skill is required to identify where they are, usually by identifying small holes in the sand.
Picking Mapé
Jereré de roda crab
Eliene - Jereré de roda crab fisherwoman
This type of fishing is done by both women and men, and can be done from boats or on land. In the case of women, who generally do not fish from boats due to their domestic and family responsibilities, fishing is done at the edges of the sand mounds and between the streams at low tide. Today, this type of fishing is rarely practiced, since the construction of cages for crab fishing has replaced this traditional technique. Jereré de roda crab fishing is important because it allows for managing the catch, selecting the larger crabs and putting back the smaller ones, ensuring the sustainable management of the species. In addition, it is a type of fishing that is accessible to women, as it does not depend on boats, which are generally owned and operated by men, or on going out to sea which is generally infeasible for women who are responsible for domestic and family care.
Another issue is that the cages require a higher initial investment in their purchase or manufacture and then require more labor for processing because they catch larger quantities. All of this has been driving women away from crab fishing and placing them instead in the processing of shellfish. In this sense, jereré de roda crab fishing can be described as an act of female resistance in fishing, that promotes environmental balance, and which works against the logic of prioritizing productivity above other concerns.
Fishing for crabs with a wheel
Proud to be a female shellfish gatherer
Marinalva Caldas dos Santos, 56, now retired, known as Ina, tells her story as a female shellfish gatherer, her process of learning the art of fishing, and understanding the tides and the sand mounds. Her arduous work routine caused her to develop a bone disease. Dona Ina also complains about the prejudice she has suffered throughout her life because of her profession. When her children were born, she had to hide her profession because “it had no value, it didn't give you access to social policies.” She couldn't say she was a fisherwoman or a shellfish gatherer because she was afraid of how people would look at her. But she says she was never ashamed, and today she proudly says she is a fisherwoman and shellfish gatherer. Even today, as a retired shellfish gatherer, she has not stopped going to the tide:
“I can't get out of the habit of what has fed me all my life, and being at the tide relaxes my mind and takes away bad thoughts. We feed our bodies and souls.”
Bura, a 53-year-old shellfish gatherer, is a single mother of five children raised through the hard work of the tide. The sea was her livelihood and a source of strength to not give up and to fight for dignity. Life in fishing used to be very undervalued because, despite the abundance of fish, the price was very low. Today, even though there is less fish, it is more valuable. The shellfish gatherer equates the value of shellfish in the market with the value of her profession, which, since being recognized as a trade and legalized by the government, has brought these women more respect and access to rights. The hard work of shellfish gathering caused a knee injury that today leaves her with significant pain and hinders her mobility, preventing her from going to the mangroves.
Dona Bura
Tania, 46, has never been ashamed to say that she is a shellfish gatherer. Her work and livelihood are her guarantee of life, which is why she taught her daughter to fish, just as her mother did with her. This is necessary to ensure a future, however precarious, for those who live in a fishing community.
Tania gathering shellfish
Dona Antonia Cerqueira
Mrs. Antonia Cerqueira da Silva, known as Tonhazinha, born on August 6, 1917, recounts her experiences with her partner in fishing. Mother of 12 biological children and 2 adopted children, she fed them all with her work fishing and gathering shellfish.
In the past, she says, the lack of electricity meant that shellfish had to be sold quickly and therefore very cheaply. She also says that she was unable to retire, since until very recently there were no documents proving her work as a fisherwoman; only men had labor rights in this profession. All documents were in her husband's name. As a result, she, a woman who was born, raised, and raised her children among the tides and mud, surviving the winds, rains, and tides, could not obtain social security in her old age. This is a result of the machismo of the time, when only men could obtain documents and women had no rights.
