Traditional Knowledge of the Fishermen of the Lower Juruá River: Understanding the Reproductive Patterns of the Region’S Fish Species
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See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316948382 Traditional Knowledge of the Fishermen of the Lower Juruá River: Understanding the Reproductive Patterns of the Region’s Fish Species Article · April 2017 DOI: 10.5380/dma.v40i0.44776 CITATIONS READS 3 221 2 authors: Tony Marcos Porto Braga George Rebelo Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia 22 PUBLICATIONS 42 CITATIONS 40 PUBLICATIONS 429 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Fish physiology View project The role of private rural properties for conserving native vegetation in Brazilian Southern Amazonia View project All content following this page was uploaded by George Rebelo on 18 May 2017. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Vol. 40, abril 2017. DOI: 10.5380/dma.v40i0.44776 DESENVOLVIMENTO E MEIO AMBIENTE Traditional Knowledge of the Fishermen of the Lower Juruá River: Understanding the Reproductive Patterns of the Region’s Fish Species Conhecimento tradicional dos pescadores do baixo rio Juruá: aspectos relacionados ao comportamento reprodutivo dos peixes da região Tony Marcos Porto BRAGA1*, George Henrique REBÊLO2 1 Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará (UFOPA), Santarém, PA, Brasil. 2 Laboratório de Manejo de Fauna, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, AM, Brasil. * E-mail of contact: [email protected] Article received in January 20, 2016, final version accepted in March 22, 2017. ABSTRACT: The present study describes the knowledge system of riverside fishing communities in the lower Juruá river Extractivist Reserve in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, focusing on the understanding of the reproductive patterns of the region’s fish species. The data were collected in 2008 and 2009 during the low water period, when the most experienced fishermen gather to count and harvest the pirarucu (Arapaima gigas). Data were collected using semi-structured interviews of the fishermen considered to be local “authorities”. The data were analyzed by allocating the content of the responses to the interviews to specific categories. The data were also analyzed through an emic/etic approach, based on the compilation of cognitive tables, which compare the traditional knowledge with the content of the pertinent scientific literature. The fishermen presented an extensive and detailed knowledge of the reproductive behavior of the region’s fish species, relating observed patterns to the flood pulse of the Juruá River. Keywords: ethno-ecology; riparian fisherman; fishing; reproductive patterns. RESUMO: O presente trabalho analisa o conhecimento que os pescadores ribeirinhos residentes nas comunidades locali- zadas na Reserva Extrativista do baixo rio Juruá possuem sobre o comportamento reprodutivo dos peixes da região. Os dados foram coletados em 2008 e 2009, sempre no final do período de vazante, quando os pescadores mais experientes estavam reunidos para a realização da contagem e despesca do pirarucu (Arapaima gigas). Fez-se uso de entrevistas semiestruturadas aplicadas aos pescadores considerados “autoridades” locais quanto à pesca. A forma de análise dos dados obtidos nas entrevistas foi a categorização do conteúdo das respostas. Os dados também foram trabalhados por meio de uma abordagem emicista/eticista, elaboração de tabelas de cognição comparada, em que os conhecimentos tradicionais são comparados com trechos da literatura cientifica Desenvolv. Meio Ambiente, v. 40, p. 385-397, abril 2017. 385 corrente. Os pescadores demonstraram possuir um extenso conhecimento sobre o comportamento reprodutivo dos peixes da região, relacionando-o sempre ao ciclo hidrológico do rio Juruá. Palavras-chave: etnoecologia; pescador ribeirinho; pesca; reprodução. 1. Introduction and structural and cognitive Anthropology (Morán, 1990). Given its interdisciplinary nature and recent Traditional Knowledge refers to a unique form theoretical and methodological advances, Ethnobi- of understanding of the specific local conditions ological research can call on analytical tools from which affect the subsistence and development of a number of different fields, such as Anthropology, rural communities following a traditional lifestyle. Botany, Zoology, Ecology, History, Geography, These knowledge systems are accumulative and Linguistics, and Taxonomy. represent the end product of countless generations Berlin (1992) assumed that ethnobiological of personal experiences, careful observation, and classification is guided by perception. Other authors, constant experimentation. This type of knowl- such as Silvano and Begossi (2001) and Souto and edge has been studied from a number of different Martins (2009) consider that ethnobiological knowl- perspectives, in particular through the analysis of edge is influenced primarily by the usefulness of the classification systems used to catalog natural the organisms to the classifiers, with more complex resources, their uses, and harvesting, based on and detailed classifications being established for appropriate management techniques, accumulated the animals and plants that are most relevant to the knowledge, perceptions or even beliefs (Berlin, survival of the population. 1992; Mourão & Nordi, 2003). Recent research has shown that informal situa- All these studies have helped to elucidate rel- tions are also an important source of ethnobiological atively sophisticated knowledge systems, which are data, permitting the identification of the “memes” of within the intellectual domain of traditional popula- the region or cultural group being analyzed. These tions, and have contributed to the consolidation of memes may be ideas or parts of ideas, esthetic and the Ethnosciences, which has been marked by the moral values, or any other type of information that emergence of new paradigms (in particular interdis- may be easily learned, selected, and transmitted ciplinarity) and the loss of old biases, in particular (Waizbort, 2003). The analysis of the process of ethnocentrism. The present-day ethnosciences have acquisition through which this information is as- emerged from a consolidated and interdisciplinary similated is important for the understanding of the scientific field, rather than a simple association of reference values and world view of the classifier, as disciplines, a field which integrates knowledge well as guaranteeing that the opinion, beliefs, and systems and generates new research approaches world-view of the observer do not interfere with the (Marques, 2002). interpretation of the data (Souto & Martins, 2009). The ethnosciences have generated a number Given all these considerations, the present of specific fields of research, including Ethnobiol- study focuses on the traditional knowledge of the ogy, which draws primarily on Socio-Linguistics, fishermen of the Lower Juruá Extractivist Reserve 386 BRAGA, T. M. P.; REBÊLO, G. H. Traditional Knowledge of the Fishermen of the Lower Juruá River: Understanding... in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. From an eth- permitted the collection of additional data for the no-ecological perspective, the study evaluates present study. local knowledge on the biology, ecology, and Data were collected using semi-structured reproductive behavior of the principal fish ethno- interviews, which permit the modification of the species exploited by the fishermen, and describes approach, depending on the response of the subject, the traditional classification system used by them allowing the inclusion of new items or structure, to organize their knowledge. as deemed fit by the interviewer (Minayo, 1998). In general, the model proposed by Posey (1987) 2. Material and methods and Marques (1991) was adopted, in which the interviewees respond to the questions according to their own perceptions, with the fewest possible In July, 2008, the present study received li- restrictions. This approach allows the interviewer cense number 16511-1 for scientific research from to use expressions emitted by the subject to for- the SISBIO system of the Brazilian federal envi- mulate new questions or lines of enquiry (during ronment institute (IBAMA/ICMBio) and license the interview or afterwards) for the collection of number 181/08 from the Research Ethics Com- additional or complementary information, or to mittee of the National Amazon Research Institute evaluate the consistency of responses among the (INPA) authorizing research within the area of the different informants, in order to produce idea “me- Lower Juruá Extractivist Reserve (03º28’12,0”S; mes”. These memes were used in the present study 66º04’06,7”W) (Figure 1). As in other parts of the as an essentially qualitative tool for the evaluation Amazon, the artisanal fisherman who reside within of the consistency of the information provided by this RESEX obtain their principal source of ani- the interviewees (Souto & Martins, 2009). mal protein from these fishing resources, both for Initially, nine specialists involved in the man- consumption and for sale, and the success of their agement of the pirarucu stocks were interviewed. activities directly depends on the local variations in All the interviews were recorded by taking details the level of the Juruá River and on the knowledge notes, although in five cases, involving the individ- that they possess of the biology and ecology of the uals considered by their peers to be the most experi- target species. enced, the interviews