Andrade et al. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (2018) 14:80 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13002-018-0279-7 RESEARCH Open Access Fishermen do more than fish: local ecological knowledge of raftsmen about the arboreal species used to construct rafts (Bahia, Brazil) Isis Leite Medeiros Mascarenhas Andrade1* , Marcelo Schramm Mielke2,NivaldoPeroni3 and Alexandre Schiavetti4 Abstract Background: Traditional raft (jangada), piúba wood raft (jangada de pau de piúba), six-log raft (jangada de seis paus), and wooden raft (jangada de pau) are some of the names given to the traditional Brazilian watercrafts created from the buoyancy of bound logs. The traditional raft is a watercraft used and built by artisan fishermen who have, throughout generations, kept and improved knowledge related to this practice and the use of the plant species they need as raw materials. Active groups of these fishermen and their watercrafts are distributed along 200 km of the coast of the state of Bahia. The fishermen interviewed in this study are at the southern limit of distribution for the use of this type of vessel. Methods: This study aimed to characterize the use of the arboreal species applied in the construction of the traditional raft in the municipalities of Uruçuca, Ilhéus, and Canavieiras in the southern State of Bahia, Brazil. For this purpose, structured and semi-structured interviews were individually conducted with 36 fishermen, and walking tours were conducted with specialists in the construction of the watercraft. Results: We observed that the raftsmen use 21 species to construct the traditional raft. The features of the wood, such as density, flexibility, and availability, are the main criteria applied to choose the arboreal species. Some species are preferred, such as pau de jangada (Apeiba tibourbou)andbiriba (Eschweilera ovata), which are the most frequently employed in watercraft manufacturing. Conclusions: The southern Bahia population is familiar with the different tree species that are linked to their fishing activities. The main link between the fishermen and the useful species is present in the practice of raft construction. Currently, the restricted access to raw materials limits this practice, which consequently results in the cultural erosion of this community. Keywords: Ethnobotanics, Pau de Jangada, Traditional raft, Atlantic forest Introduction species used in the construction of fishing technologies, The ecological knowledge of artisanal fishers about the such as materials used for the manufacture of tools and environment in which they fish is already well docu- the construction of vessels [1–3]. mented. However, this knowledge goes beyond fishing The production of fishing technologies relies on the activity. It is a knowledge that accesses information from choice of the plant species adapted to the ecological and various components of the ecosystem, including the cultural conditions related to fishing. The abilities of the fishermen to produce this technology come from the * Correspondence: [email protected] successful capture of fish through an optimized choice 1 Programa de pós-graduação em Desenvolvimento e Meio of the utilized plant species [3, 4]. Ambiente—PRODEMA (Master Degree Program in Development and Environment), Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz State Several ethnobotanical studies were conducted in arti- University), Ilheús, Bahia, Brazil sanal fishing communities in Brazil and worldwide. Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s). 2018 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Andrade et al. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (2018) 14:80 Page 2 of 15 Many of them aimed to analyze the plant usage by these Materials and methods communities [5–8], while others focused on the use of Study area plants with medicinal purposes [9, 10], and some ad- The state of Bahia has the largest seacoast in Brazil with dressed studies of plants utilized for the construction of 1188 km of continuous shore. Along with this coast, vessels and fishing tools in communities [2, 11–13]. there are 44 municipalities and approximately 350 fish- These studies present a high interdependence between ing communities. The state’s fishing fleet is mostly the knowledge and usage of terrestrial and marine bio- formed by non-motorized vessels [26]. diversity [1, 7, 14, 15]. Fishermen who use traditional rafts are distributed The Brazilian maritime patrimony is formed by a rich along 200 km of the coast of the state of Bahia. The fish- set of traditional watercrafts that belong to the history ermen interviewed for this study were in the southern- and the landscape of the country, representing the geo- most part of the Brazilian Northeast region. The raft is graphical specificities according to the historical, envir- also used by small groups of fishermen on the north onmental, and cultural features. For example, the raft boundary of Bahia within the state of Sergipe [21] (jangada), found in Northeast Brazil, is characterized by (Fig. 1). the junction of many logs. Similarly, the tolda canoes Groups of fishermen from the southern part of the are present in the São Francisco River, which is located Northeast region are located in the surroundings of the between the northeast and southeast regions of Brazil Atlantic Forest, a biome that is an international hotspot [16]. Relatively to the large number of watercrafts and and a priority area for conservation due to the extinction the cultural richness that these boats represent, few of a large part of the plant cover in an area with a high ethnobotanical studies have been conducted that aim to level of endemism and biological richness [27–29]. characterize how plant resources are used in the con- The study area comprised the municipalities of Cana- struction of these traditional watercrafts and in fishing vieiras, Ilhéus, and Uruçuca (Fig. 1). These towns are lo- activities [17–19]. cated in the southern part of the state of Bahia, a region The traditional raft (jangada), piúba wood raft (jan- that has a hot and humid tropical climate without a dry gada de pau de piúba), six-log raft (jangada de seis season, with over 1300 mm of precipitation/year and paus), and wooden raft (jangada de pau) are some of with the most intense rainy period occurring between the names given to the watercraft created from a con- March and September [30]. struction that ensures the buoyancy of many wooden logs joined together [20]. These watercrafts are consid- Raftsmen ered to be adapted to the environment and the fishing We considered all artisan fishermen who use the trad- style, and they are formed by the hull, mast, and support itional raft as a watercraft as raftsmen when we con- devices. The construction is handcrafted by fishermen ducted our research. Among them, we were able to using fittings and ties and without the need for nails, identify the raftsmen who mastered the techniques to screws, or any other hardware [20]. Although the trad- construct the rafts when the individual interviews were itional raft has disappeared in many locations on the conducted. northeast shore where they were common in the past The total population of fishermen who used the rafts [21], there are active spots where the traditional rafts are as fishing vessels was 46 raftsmen, among whom 36 still used and built by raftsmen. The most active region is agreed to participate in the research. The interviewed located in a strip approximately 200 km south of Bahia fishermen were placed in five groups according to their State [19–22]. Along with this shore strip, there are geographic location in the studied municipalities (Fig. 1). semi-desert beaches rounded by the Atlantic Forest, where Then, we characterized the groups by examining the arboreal species are used as plant resources necessary for number of raftsmen per group, the location, the proxim- the construction and maintenance of the rafts [23–25]. ity to protected areas [31, 32], and the width of the con- With an understanding of the cultural importance of tinental platform, which is the distance of the seabed the raft as a traditional watercraft used by a group of expe- from the continental platform at the spots where the rienced fishermen, this study aimed to evaluate how ar- rafts were found [33]. The fishing strategy, the type of boreal species are used in the construction of traditional raft used, and the distance traveled by the raft are pre- rafts by groups of raftsmen settled in the southern region sented in Table 1. of the state of Bahia. We expect that our results may be applied to the development of conservation strategies and Ethnobotanical research actions that aim to preserve the Atlantic Forest and trad- Data were collected from March to December 2015 by the itional fishing. Such strategies should also consider the im- individual interview method [34, 35]. All interviews were pact of the human groups who know the biome’s recorded with audio at the time and place set by the inter- importance for the development of their daily activities. viewees. The interviews had an average duration of 50 Andrade et al. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (2018) 14:80 Page 3 of 15 Fig. 1 Map of the coastal strip of South of Bahia where the study was conducted min. The interviews were conducted in semi-structured errors in species identification, as the raftsmen pointed and structured forms.