Habits and a new path towards sustainable fishing

Filed under: History, Learning, Oceania, EcotourismOld habits die hard, especially when it comes to fishermen and their daily catch. With many species of fish around the globe hammered by overfishing, laws are being written and enforced to protect them, which sometimes means convincing indigenous fishermen to alter centuries-old traditions.

But changing fishing patterns that go back multiple generations can be a hard sell when it is the legends and skills of a great-grandfather, for example, that still drive traditional hunts for green turtles or whales, dolphins, manta rays, sharks and other now-threatened species.

Sometimes, of course, it's not family tradition that propels the illegal hunting by indigenous fishermen, but greed and willful ignorance of modern-day laws.

A recent story in the New York Times highlights the dilemma of pink river dolphins in Brazil's Amazon River. The subject of legend (it is thought they are magical creatures that can turn into men and impregnate women), they are also endangered. But that's not stopping locals from hunting them and using them as bait for catfish (attracted by the strong smell of dolphin meat) or simply killing them to eliminate them as competitors for catches. From the river fishermen's perspective there are too many dolphins, they're a nuisance and hardly need protection.

"We don't like him; we are his enemy," one fisherman told the Times. "I killed one when I was waiting for the fish to bite. He kept coming closer and the fish were leaving, so I harpooned the dolphin. I couldn't stand it anymore."

Experts in the region suggest thousands are killed every year - out of a population of just 30,000 - though they are supposed to be protected by law.

Though they risk prison sentences, fishermen know enforcers are spread thin around the vast Brazilian Amazon. Evidence of the hunt is hardly hidden, with the genitals of river dolphins sold at open-air markets as aphrodisiacs, alongside oil from anacondas and crocodiles.


Continue reading Habits and a new path towards sustainable fishingHabits and a new path towards sustainable fishing originally appeared on Gadling on Sun, 29 May 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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