Local ecological knowledge of fishermen from Babitonga Bay, Santa Catarina, Brazil: fishes from the Serranidae family and marine environmental changes - DOI: 10.4025/actascibiolsci.v28i3.226

Abstract

General aspects of the Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) of long-line and spear fishermen on seven fish species of the Serranidae family (habitat use, maximum size and popular names) and on the main marine environmental changes were investigated in Babitonga Bay, Santa Catarina State, Brazil. In general, LEK on fishes corroborates the ichthyology literature, bringing original information in a local scale. Neighbor fishermen communities can develop different local species nomenclature and different LEK for fishery resources at the same area. We have verified that the fishing ban legislation on Epinephelus itajara in Brazil does not consider local species denominations, turning impossible its interpretation by local fishermen and generating conflicts on the law’s applicability. The main environmental changes registered were: decreasing abundance of fishery resources in general (and in particular that of the “Parambijú” (Cobia) Rachycentron canadum), and the effects of the anthropogenic interruption of the “Linguado Channel” on the hydrological and sedimentological characteristics of the Babitonga Bay (channel-bed shallowing and increased water turbidity).