Reg Environ Change DOI 10.1007/s10113-013-0458-y

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Marine biodiversity and sustainability of fishing resources in Brazil: a case study of the coast of Parana´ state Frederico Brandini

Received: 30 April 2012 / Accepted: 8 April 2013 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013

Abstract The subtropical coastal zone of Parana´ state in southern Brazil is only 80 km long yet environmentally diverse, with relatively pristine coastal landscapes and high marine and coastal biodiversity supporting important artisanal fishing grounds. However, this region began to change in the early 1970s. The development of industrial harbors, as well as unregulated tourism and urban settlement and pollution caused the loss of natural habitats. In addition, commercial shrimp trawlers began to operate in the adjacent shallow shelf areas. Biodiversity was seriously affected, and local fish stocks have decreased drastically in the last four decades. This article describes a long-term program to protect coastal habitats, recover marine biodiversity and diversify the economic base of fishing communities in order to guarantee fish stocks for future generations, hence preserving the social and cultural identities of these communities. Although it is difficult to change traditional fishing practices, fishing communities may exploit alternate components of the marine biological resources in order to achieve environmental, social and cultural sustainability in the long term. Keywords Marine conservation  Fishing resources  Anti-trawling system  Artificial reefs  Open shelf mariculture  Parana´ coast  Brazil

F. Brandini (&) Oceanographic Institute, University of Sa˜o Paulo, Sa˜o Paulo, Brazil e-mail: [email protected]

Introduction The sea profoundly affects all aspects of Brazil’s historical and cultural legacy and obviously its socioeconomic framework (Brandini 2009). Recently, the country has experienced a boom of economic development driven by the discovery of large oil deposits in the pre-salt sedimentary basins off the southeast region (EIA 2012). However, in spite of more than 4.4 millions km2 of economic exclusive zone, ocean fisheries do not contribute as much as oil to the national economy. Except for the southernmost subtropical shelf, which is subject to seasonal intrusions of nutrient-rich ocean waters following changes in wind patterns, most of the Brazilian continental margin is dominated by nutrient-poor waters, producing in 2009 approximately 585 thousand tons/year of fish, that is, \1 % of world fish production (Castro et al. 2006; MPA 2010). Despite this relative poverty of commercial stocks, the Brazilian coast is highly diverse in part due to the large extent of the coastline. Hundreds of kilometers of sandy beaches interrupted by rocky shores, estuaries and coastal lagoons surrounded by mangroves, calcareous and sandstone reefs, and coastal islands are distributed along the coastline between Cape Orange at the mouth of the Orinoco River (4°300 N) and the river Arroyo Chui (33°450 S) on the border with Uruguay. The Brazilian coastline also includes the world’s largest estuary in the Amazon River plume; the longest beach, Cassino Beach, which extends for 200 km along the southernmost coast; the largest coastal lagoon, Patos Lagoon; the only atoll (Rocas) in the South Atlantic; and ca. 50 % of the continental shelf is dominated by one of the most extensive reservoirs of biogenic carbonate in the world (Carannante et al. 1988).

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Brazil, a ‘‘maritime’’ country The complex physiographic features of Brazilian coastal waters harbor enormously diverse marine biological resources. Fishing, tourism, transport, commerce, the housing market and, more recently, mariculture are everyday activities in the coastal zone and contribute significantly to the national economy. Tourism, presently one of the world’s largest industries, represents more than 7.5 % of the national GDP (Casimiro Filho 2002). In the last two decades, shrimp and mollusc farming in estuaries and protected coastal zones has provided additional revenues to fishing communities and may become an important socioeconomic alternative for future generations if developed with environmentally sustainable methods. Yet, the biotechnological and socioeconomic roles of these resources are still undervalued by Brazilian society. Most Brazilians are unacquainted with the importance of the sea for the nation’s economy and cultural foundation (Brandini 2009). In contrast, the Amazon Forest is perennially a subject of global environmental conservation forums. Thanks to pressure from international conventions and public opinion, the Brazilian tropical rain forest is now protected by a more complete legal framework and governmental concern than those dedicated to marine conservation, in spite of the recent expansion of agribusiness to meet the demands of Asian markets. Threats to sustainability The long-term sustainability of these socioeconomic practices is uncertain because it depends directly on a fragile governmental policy of conservation of natural coastal habitats and their associated marine biodiversity. This fragility stems not from the available legal framework, which seems technically correct, but from the inefficiency of enforcement and field surveillance (Gerhardinger et al. 2011). Local and outside large commercial trawlers continue to operate illegally in areas and seasons that are permanently or temporarily closed to fishing according to federal fishery laws. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are helpful for biodiversity conservation (reviewed by Diegues 2008) and since 2000 have been regulated by the National System of Protected Areas. However, chemical contamination and biological invasion of exotic species in coastal zones, which are outside the management reach of MPAs, worldwide raise doubts regarding the efficiency of MPAs (Allison et al. 1998; IUCN 2009). Moreover, the MPAs cannot be used as an excuse for continuing present exploitative practices in the remaining unprotected [98 % of Brazilian marine coastal areas. If an integrated and participatory policy of marine conservation and fishery management, involving all sectors of society in Brazil, is

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not established, the present market-oriented exploitation of marine living resources will exacerbate socio-environmental conflicts in the coastal zone. Small-scale versus industrial fisheries: an endless dispute on coastal fishing grounds Brazilian fishery laws distinguish between commercial and non-commercial fishing practices. Commercial fishing is used to define market-oriented fishery and can be distinguished as small scale (=artisanal fishery) or large scale (=industrial fishery). Subsistence fishery is included among the non-commercial fishing practices and has a strong social, historical and cultural background. Since 1919, Brazilian fishers have been organized socially into ca. 600 fishing ‘‘coloˆnias,’’ a kind of local administrative office dedicated to technically and socially supporting the fishery in common fishing grounds. Today, fish stocks in Brazil are still being exploited by the small-scale fishery and, opportunistically, by the industrial fishery, all of which are presently in decline due to overfishing. In 2009, over 833,231 fishers (59 % men and 41 % women) were registered by the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture and Fishery (MPA 2010), most of them belonging to the small-scale fishery category, without other sources of income except fishing in estuaries, coastal lagoons and unprotected open waters within only a few kilometers from the coast (Diegues 2008; Castello 2010). Women have participated in artisanal fisheries in Brazil for a long time, but only recently the fisher women’s work in coastal fisheries has been recognized by law. Statistical coverage has been growing fast since 2009, when the new Brazilian Fisheries Law included daily tasks carried out by women in artisanal fishing (Miranda and Maneschy 2010; Pierri and Azevedo 2010). Today, they comprise one-third of registered fisher folk, working on mariculture grounds, catching molluscs and processing the fish caught on land (MPA 2010). In addition to the weak enforcement of governmental policies intended to protect coastal environments and guarantee living resources for traditional fishing communities, the social stability of these communities is also seriously threatened by conflicts with more aggressive industrial fishing interests. Since 1970s, large commercial fishing trawlers have profited from government subsidies (Abdallah and Sumaila 2007) and exploited specific marketable fish and shrimp stocks on fishing grounds which have been traditionally fished only by small-scale (subsistence or artisanal) fisheries, most of them already in decline or overfished earlier in the last decade (Castello 2010; FAO 2012). Over the long term, the artisanal fishery has suffered from disputes over these scarce fish stocks, whereas the commercial fishing fleets can exploit larger geographical areas and with greater technological capacity. In early

Marine biodiversity and sustainability

Fig. 1 The Parana´ coastline is 107 km long, located in the southern Brazil. It is formed by sandy-bottoms in the open inner shelf with few rocky habitats and by two main bays, Paranagua´ and Guaratuba

2000, a total of 1,630 industrial boats were operating in near-coastal waters (FAO 2012), but due to the decline of the stocks, only 905 boats were operating in Brazilian waters in 2009 (MPA 2010), some of them bottom trawling for catching white and seabob shrimps (Litopenaeus schmitti, Xiphopenaeus kroyeri) or operating with purse seines to catch the Brazilian sardine (Sardinella brasiliensis). This commercial fleet competes with the small-scale fishery for the same near-coastal resources. Fishing disputes in the Parana´ coastal zone: small canoes against large trawlers The Parana´ coastal zone in southeastern Brazil faithfully mirrors the national (as well as worldwide) conditions of permanent conflict between unsustainable exploitation of marine resources and environmental conservation. The coast extends for about 107 km between Lat. 25°120 and 25°580 S, representing slightly over 1 % of the Brazilian coastline, yet harboring a complex mosaic of marine habitats (Fig. 1). The beauty of the coastal landscapes attracts ca. 1 million domestic tourists each summer. Rapid urban development and point sources of domestic and industrial pollutions near the harbor facilities of the inner bays have caused losses of adjacent nursery grounds for ecologically

and commercially important species, contributing to the impairment of the coastal landscape and declines in biodiversity and fish stocks. In the Brazilian coastal state of Parana´, small-scale fishery is mostly concentrated in the inner estuarine bays of Paranagua´ and Guaratuba (Fig. 2a), far from the urban and harbor areas, where extensive and still-pristine mangrove forests dominate the shorelines, together with salt marshes (Spartina alterniflora) and sea grass beds (Halodule sp.). These are the main primary producers of organic matter for the estuarine system, functioning as nursery and recruitment grounds for commercially important invertebrates (oysters, mussels, shrimps and crabs) and estuarine fishes (Lana et al. 2001). Organic matter produced in the inner bays is partly exported to the open sea, providing food for extensive sandy-bottom organisms. A few bottom reefs and the islands of Currais, Itacolomis and Figueira punctuate the bottom-sediment communities. The intrinsic social value of the small-scale fishery in Parana´ is confirmed by the demographic indexes: approximately 4,500 fishermen (11,000 persons including their families) live in 60 traditional fishing villages (Andriguetto-Filho et al. 2006, 2009). They have been classified into six different production systems, ranging from the simplest to more technically sophisticated and market-oriented

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Fig. 2 The Parana´ coastline houses still well preserved marine ecosystems (a). Estuarine lagoons surrounded by mangroves support the aquatic food web in the inner and outer bays where artisanal and commercial fisheries compete for the same resources. Since 1970s

fish trawlers (b) operate in the open shelf producing great amounts of bycatch (c) threatening the physical and biological integrity of the coastal zone, hence the socioeconomic sustainability of fishing communities

fishing practices, such as small-scale trawlers that operate nets and gillnets in the open sea near the coast to catch shrimp (Natividade et al. 2004; Borges et al. 2006; Andriguetto-Filho et al. 2009). In the open unprotected waters and in the inner-bay mangrove ecosystems, they usually catch the seabob shrimp X. kroyeri (Natividade et al. 2004) and ca. 70 species of fish, mainly Serranidae, Sciaenidae and Clupeidae (e.g., the snooks Centropomus undecimalis and C. paralellus; the sardine S. brasiliensis; and the catfish Genidens genidens) using a variety of small nets (e.g., sweep and gill nets) and fishing gear operated from paddlepropelled canoes of \5 m long and other small wooden vessels from 6 to 10 m long and equipped with a maximum of 25 hp motor (Chaves et al. 2002; Natividade et al. 2004). Mangrove oysters (Crassostrea brasiliensis) and crabs (Ucides cordatus, Callinectes sapidus) are also collected during specific seasons according to the life cycle of these organisms; however, some categories of the fishing systems of Parana´ have for decades also operated in the outer bay zone, competing for target species in the same fishing grounds. Revenues are derived from different fishing practices and other sources unrelated to fishing. Monthly household incomes average US $375, ca. half of which is derived from fishing (Borges et al. 2006). Inevitably, socioeconomic conflicts began in the early 1970s when commercial fleets of shrimp trawlers, most of them from neighboring states, began to operate regularly and sometimes illegally in no-take areas (Fig. 2b) which are defined temporarily and spatially according to spawning seasons to protect the commercial species. The

Brazilian fishery management legislation (Normative Instruction No. 29, pdf available at http://www.icmbio.gov. br/cepsul/areas-protegidas/area-de-exclusao-a-pesca.html) excludes large beam trawlers to operate between the shoreline and 5 miles off the shore of the Parana´ coast. The seabob shrimp dominates the commercial shrimp species exploited by non-selective trawling nets, which indiscriminately capture all benthic organisms. The commercial fleets produce large amounts of bycatch (Fig. 2c), usually 30–50 % of the annual catch (Haimovici and Mendonc¸a 1996). In the last four decades, the destruction of the biological and physical integrity of the benthic substrate by trawl fishing has threatened the economic and social sustainability of local fishing communities. The objective of this article is to report the results gained with social and environmental technologies developed in the past 10 years and how these may potentially be applied simultaneously for marine conservation and the livelihood of fishing communities in the Parana´ coastal zone.

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Methodology In the late 1990s, a group of academics of the Center of Marine Studies of the Federal University of Parana´ together with regional and federal public agencies decided to develop a new socio-environmental model for exploiting marine living resources. In order to balance economic development with marine conservation, alternate marine

Marine biodiversity and sustainability

Fig. 3 Anti-trawling units deployed along 20 miles transects distant 0.8 and 1.8 miles off the coast of Parana´ in 1999 with the support of the Brazilian Navy

technologies were applied to benefit local artisanal fishing communities. Three technologies were selected to help resolve these conflicts: (1) anti-trawling system (hereafter AT) to protect benthic biodiversity and hence the traditional fishing grounds against commercial trawlers; (2) artificial reefs (hereafter AR) to provide new habitats for invertebrate recruitment and fish refuges, helping to develop new food webs and hence more fish biomass to be explored by the local fishing community; and (3) openwater mariculture of mussels (Perna perna) to provide fishermen an opportunity to exploit marine resources as farmers rather than hunters. These three technologies are detailed as follows. Anti-trawling system Although federal fishery management laws theoretically regulate the permitted fishing grounds and seasons in the entire country, marine environmental surveillance in Parana´ is deficient and unable to control illegal fishing. The deployment of obstacles arranged strategically on the sandy seafloor can very efficiently prevent commercial fish trawlers from operating on traditional fishing grounds (Seaman 2000). Although the artisanal fishery also uses small-scale trawling nets, the void spaces left between the grids of AT units are broad enough for them to fish with their small-scale fishing nets. Sometimes, their nets may be trapped by these obstacles, but usually it does not happen twice in the same place, and they still prefer to exclude the commercial outside competitors from their fishing zone. After discussions with leaders of local fishing communities, a pilot AT experiment was designed in the city of Pontal do Parana´. The first 50 anti-trawling units were deployed at selected points, with logistic support from the Brazilian Navy (Fig. 3). They were made of two 0.6-m pieces of steel railroad rails embedded in concrete cylinders and spread over the sandy-bottom between 1999 and 2001, on two transects, each 20 nautical miles long and sited 0.8 and 1.8 nautical miles offshore, in areas where notake zones have been established by federal laws.

Artificial reefs Simultaneously with the pilot anti-trawling experiment, oceanographic studies were conducted at the Center for Marine Studies of the Federal University of Parana´ to assess the seasonal and spatial dynamics of the invertebrate community growing on structures made of concrete, in relation to environmental parameters (Silva 2001; Brandini and Silva 2011). These investigations provided important clues regarding the locations, time of year and methods for installation of AR on the inner shelf off Parana´, for the use of hook-and-line fishery and underwater tourism. The higher diversity and colonization rate of hard-bottom communities on the new surfaces at certain depths indicated that isobaths around 18 m were the most appropriate to implement a large-scale AR program in Parana´ (Brandini and Silva 2011). After the pilot AR experiment in the late 1990s, 2,700 concrete blocks were deployed from 1999 to 2002 (Fig. 4a). Since no legal framework existed to regulate artificial reef deployment in Brazil, the implantation of these block units received special permission from the regional office of the Ministry of the Environment and was also authorized by the Brazilian Navy authority in Parana´, concerning risks for local navigation. They were divided into 11 groups and are now sited approximately 10 nautical miles offshore between the 15- and 18-m isobaths, serving not only as refuges for the local ichthyofauna (Fig. 4b) but also as anti-trawling units (Fig. 4c). Open-water mariculture According to the state technical assistance and extension agency (EMATER, unpublished reports), artisanal fishermen have been cultivating indigenous oysters (C. brasiliensis) in the inner bays of Parana´ since 2003. In addition to technical barriers and costs for the installation of longlines for molluscs, the development of commercial-scale aquaculture grounds as alternative income for fisher communities has been restricted by bureaucratic requirements for compliance with regional environmental legislation, which

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Fig. 4 a A total of 11 deployments of AR at selected sites in the coast of Parana´ were carried out between 1999 and 2002; b Goliath grouper aggregation at the AR; c fishing nets trapped by the AR

is seldom accomplished by artisanal fishers (Chaves et al. 2002). Therefore, open-water mariculture of mussels has been proposed as an alternate food production system that has little impact on the marine environment because it does not replace natural habitats (e.g., mangroves) and does not use chemicals to prevent diseases or fertilizers to increase food biomass for the target organisms. The proposal was technically based on previous studies on the potential of open unprotected waters for mollusc cultivation (Brandini 2005; Brandini et al. 2000, 2007) after measures had been taken to prevent regular conflicts with fishing trawlers. The only by-product of mollusc longline in the open sea is the fecal material that is rapidly carried away by tidal or windinduced circulation. There is no conflict with other socioeconomic activities such as maritime transport and tourism, which are the most common activities in protected estuaries or lagoons. The project was designed particularly for fishing communities that have traditionally fished in the open sea and are now threatened by the commercial fleets. The purpose of the project was to teach fishermen how to produce mussels in a submerged system in unprotected coastal waters. Besides the daily fish catch, producing mussels is another way that small-scale fishers can provide for the tourist season, especially during closed fishing periods and fish production shortages. In November 2004, an area of 1 ha on the inner open shelf off Ipanema village was protected from fishing trawlers during the pilot anti-trawling program and used for a pilot mariculture ground for mussels (P. perna). The pilot project was then conducted in two steps. In the first phase, from June to September 2005, a group of 46 fishermen interested in mariculture were selected and taught basic

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principles of mussel cultivation (biological features, life cycles, larval pools in the environment, etc.), techniques and logistics of longline installation and cultivation management of mussels growing in the open sea (Fig. 5a). Simultaneously, we complied with the legal framework that regulates the use of public waters, helping the fishermen to prepare Environmental Impact Assessment documents and requesting permission from the Brazilian Navy to use the area. The second phase was dedicated to fieldwork, with the successful installation of the first mussel longlines at two sites (Ipanema Beach and off Mel Island) in the open sea. The fishermen collaborated in preparing buoys and cables for the longline systems, transporting them in their own canoes to the selected cultivation grounds (Fig. 5b–e), both occupying ca. 1 ha of sea surface. A total of 100 seed mussel collection lines of ca. 1.5 kg each were brought from commercial-scale mariculture grounds in Santa Catarina state. The farmers in Santa Catarina regularly produce seed mussels, and the same approach will have to be adopted in Parana´. The good results obtained with the pilot AT and AR experiments (Brandini 2007) were geographically limited, and in August 2004, the Outreach Program to Support Fishery and Mariculture in Parana´ state (PREAMAR) was initiated. With the financial support of the AVINA Foundation (www.avina.net), the Federal University of Parana and the MarBrasil Association (http://www.marbrasil.org), 300 fishermen and fisherwomen were recruited who developed a grid of anti-trawling and artificial reef units in accordance with the daily routine of fishing practices in each coastal community (Fig. 6a, b). This was a unique participatory decision to manage the fishing resources in their fishing

Marine biodiversity and sustainability

Fig. 5 Mussel cultivation is another alternate revenue for fishing communities in Parana´ coast—the socioeconomic component of the PREAMAR project; members of local fishing community attending the technical course on mussel cultivation (a) assembling the

longlines on the beach (b) and transporting themselves the longlines to the open sea (c); juveniles of mussels were suspended along the line to grow in the open sea for 7–8 months (d, e)

grounds, which had never occurred before in Parana´ (Andriguetto-Filho and Pierri 2012). The successor to PREAMAR is the present REBIMAR project (Program to Recover the Marine Biodiversity, http://marbrasil.org/home/detalhes/ 2435/Rebimar), now with the financial support of the Brazilian Oil Company (PETROBRAS). It has constructed 6,000 concrete blocks (Fig. 6c), of which 1,200 units were deployed offshore, as 10 groups of 120 units each in the middle section of the Parana´ shelf. These new units were specifically designed to enhance recruitment of invertebrates, because these comprise important trophic links that sustain ecosystems developed on hard substrates.

the rocky shores around the Islands of Currais, Figueira and Mel. Sandy-bottom communities dominate almost 99.9 % of the open inner shelf between the shore line and 50-m isobath (Veiga et al. 2004). In such environments, new man-made habitats increase bottom heterogeneity and a new food web develops within 1 year after deployment due to the permanent availability of large larval pools from local as well as remote epilithic invertebrates communities (Brandini and Silva 2011). Therefore, the environment is suitable for AR deployment because they provide additional substrate for the recruitment of benthic organisms and new three-dimensional habitat as refugee for reef fish species. Artificial reefs are man-made substrates that are deliberately submerged and placed on the seafloor to reproduce the structure and functioning of a natural marine ecosystem, so that it can be used by the local community for a variety of purposes such as hook-and-line fishing and

Results and discussion The open-water ecosystem off Parana is almost devoid of hard substrates, except for few submerged natural reefs and

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Fig. 6 Map of the protection grid against fishing trawlers in the inner shelf of Parana´ state (a). The spatial of anti-trawling and artificial reef units was defined after 5 workshops where members of the local fishing communities along the coast decided themselves how the grid should be in order to avoid commercial trawlers from other provinces (b). A total of 50 pyramids of AR units (c) and 2000 anti-trawling

(d) units will be deployed. Brazilian’s environmental agency and Navy have authorized deployments for the next 3 years. The efficiency of the protection grid and the recruitment potential of the AR will be monitored for the next 3 years to meet national laws that regulated the deployment of AR in Brazilian waters

underwater tourism (Seaman 2000). AR also have many environmental applications, such as replacing lost habitats, and have been used successfully in several countries (Seaman and Sprague 1991; Seaman 2000; Bortone et al. 2011). The FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (FAO 1995) recommends the use of artificial habitats for conservation and fishery management. A recent publication describes various examples of the use of AR in the marine environment for the purpose of developing sustainable fishery resources (Bortone et al. 2011). The AR and AT units deployed earlier by the PREAMAR project and later by the REBIMAR project jointly reduced the operation of local and outside large commercial trawlers in Parana´ coastal zones. Small-scale artisanal and recreational fisheries exploit the new manmade habitats, decreasing fishing pressure on the very few natural rocky habitats of Parana´. The reef blocks also became additional anti-trawling units, improving the protection of the surrounding bottom communities (see Fig. 4c). By the end of 2002, the AR protected 283 ha or

\1 % of the sandy-bottom communities from commercial trawling on the Parana´ open shelf. Table 1 presents the basic numbers achieved as a result of the large-scale anti-trawling and artificial reef systems deployed between 1998 and 2003. The latest technical report (unpublished) of the MarBrasil Association, the NGO that heads the REBIMAR project, provides evidence of higher fish catch and a larger financial return for small-scale fishers in Pontal do Parana´, based on interviews with local fishers who have been regularly using the reef sites. The gray triggerfish (Balistes capriscus) aggregates on the artificial reefs, and local fishermen have reported high hook-and-line catches, ranging from 200 to 300 kg/day. During tourist seasons, this fish is sold directly to consumers for US $10/kg. This represents a substantial increase in the daily income of local fishers though not yet evaluated except for few interviews made in the fishing villages. Another positive result from the deployment of AR is related to underwater tourism, which is not directly associated with small-scale fishers but helps the economy of

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Marine biodiversity and sustainability Table 1 Targets achieved after the first period of AR deployment in the coast of Parana´ Benefits and goals achieved

Period: December 1998–September 2003

Total area excluded from fish trawlers

2.830.800 m2 = 283 ha (ca. 0. 075 % of the inner shelf off Parana State)

Number of artificial reef units deployed

1,788

Area covered by the AR units

3,900 m2

Total volume of new substrate added

710 m3

Total surface area to be colonized

14.400 m2

Number of fishermen affected positivelya

580

Return from recreational fishery

ca US $266,000

Return from subaquatic tourism

ca US $69,400

a

The estimate population of fishermen that operate in the open sea along the mid- and southern coast of Parana´ where AR have been deployed. Informal meetings and interviews with leaders of fishing villages have confirmed the increase in fish and shrimp catches after the beginning of the project

coastal communities due to expenditures by people on board private boats, for fuel (automobile and boat), food and beverages in restaurants, lodging, recreational supplies, rental of diving equipment, etc., as reported elsewhere (Swett et al. 2011). The structures became important for hook-and-line fishing and diving, aiding the economy of Pontal do Parana´. Goliath groupers (Epinephelus itajara) aggregate on the reefs during the summer season (Fig. 4b), attracting independent scuba divers and dive schools and increasing their annual revenue with the new habitats. A detailed economic-benefit study is not yet available, similar to that performed by Swett et al. (2011) for counties in Florida. However, a simple calculation can be done using the information on expenditures provided by a local dive school (www.scubasul.com.br) that regularly organizes day trips to the AR sites. This company provided data on the financial return from more than 500 tours in the last 12 years, mostly driven by the presence of the Goliath groupers (Roberto Baracho, personal communication; http://www.scubasul.com.br/parana.htm). On average, 10 tourists visit the AR on each trip, and, depending on the amount of rented diving equipment and food consumption on board, each of them pays US $75–100 to the dive school. Daily costs (in US$) for a day trip to the reefs vary, with boat rental from 350 to 650, local guides from 40 to 60, and food and beverages and recreational supplies from 50 to 75. The calculation shows that the return from artificial reefs to the dive school plus the local market economy in the last 12 years ranged from US $257,500 to US $442,500, which is a substantial sum (=US

$21,458–36,875/year) for the economy of a small village such as Pontal do Sul. Many other indirect effects on the local economy are not included in this simple math exercise, and since at least three other dive schools operate on the AR sites, we can assume a much higher financial return to the local economy due to the AR program. Although the attraction effect of the AR may threaten this endangered species (Tak-Chuen and Ferreira, 2006), Brazilian law has prohibited catching goliath groupers since 2002. Recent studies have been performed in order to better understand the grouper’s life cycle, aggregation behavior and geographical distribution, to support and maintain the conservation measures for this species in Brazil (Hostim-Silva et al. 2005; Fe´lix-Hackradt and Hackradt 2008; Gerhardinger et al. 2009). At present, 400 fishers registered in the Fishery Association of the Pontal do Sul District (Coloˆnia Z-5) are directly affected by this new fishing opportunity. For this reason, in a recent meeting organized by the REBIMAR leaders and the Fishery Association, it was decided to give first priority to professional small-scale fishers and then to amateur fishers, scientific researchers and dive tourism. The fishermen also decided that fishing gear such as smallscale trawls and set nets will not be allowed within 200 m of the reef sites. This participatory agreement represents the first step in defining a specific management plan for the sustainable use of the AR of Parana´. Since October 2012, the REBIMAR project obtained permission from the Brazilian Navy and IBAMA, the federal environmental agency that regulates AR deployment in Brazil, to complete the protective grid shown in Fig. 6 against illegal incursions by commercial trawlers. Due to cultural reasons, fishers are not easily persuaded to shift from their traditional fishing practices to become fish farmers (Pollnac et al. 2001; Pomeroy et al. 2006) unless the fish stocks decline to unsustainable levels (Pomeroy, 2004) as is the case in Parana´. However, the mariculture experiment also achieved good results. Eight months after the installation, the fishermen produced approximately 14 tons of adult mussels from their first aquaculture grounds. Financial returns based on the statistics for Santa Catarina’s mariculture grounds (Cunha 2006; Machado 2002) report monthly incomes ranging from R $500–2000 (ca. U $250–500) for fishers involved with mussel cultivation. Production costs and local market prices estimated recently (EPAGRI/CEPA, 2004) are, respectively, R $0.80/kg and R $1.20/kg, that is, a return of R $0.40/kg. These figures give a total potential revenue of R $5,600 (=US $2,800/ha/ year), hence US $233 of additional monthly income for each family responsible for a 1-ha mariculture ground. At present, the open-water mariculture is being conducted by seven families of Shangri-la village in the Pontal do Parana´ District (MarBrasil 2013).

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Concluding remarks

References

The three technological approaches described here have improved marine environmental conservation in Parana´. At present, AT and AR systems deployed in the last decade have halted the destruction of bottom communities, helping to protect but a small portion of the benthic biodiversity in the nearshore off Parana. Following the positive results of these projects, AR and AT units came to be legally regulated by federal laws (IBAMA Normative Instruction No. 125, issued on 16 October 2006). Now coastal and fishery management along the Brazilian coast can also rely on this technology to protect similar seabed characteristics, subjected to the same socio-environmental conflicts (i.e., large-scale vs. artisanal fisheries) which have been observed in the Parana´ coastline in recent decades. The positive results obtained for the experimental aquaculture grounds in open waters (Brandini et al. 2007) may provide new opportunities for exploitation of marine resources to complement the monthly incomes provided by traditional fishing practices. The attempt to balance marine conservation and social support for fishing communities in Parana´ in the last 10 years was a good opportunity to test the effectiveness of these environmental technologies. The available legal framework for fish stock conservation is still insufficient by itself to protect the biodiversity and living resources along the coastal zone. The deployment of AT and AR units, if implemented with technically and scientifically sound criteria, is likely to be an excellent option for marine conservation. Recently, the REBIMAR project was awarded the prize of the 4th Brazilian Edition of the UN Millennium Development Goals.1 The legacy of the PREAMAR-REBIMAR programs can be exported to other fishing communities along the Brazilian coast, if adapted to specific environmental characteristics, as well as to local fishing practices. The marine technologies described here may be an effective link between marine biodiversity conservation and better livelihood opportunities for the small-scale fisher community in Parana´.

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Acknowledgments I thank the MarBrasil Association for taking the lead role of the artificial reef and anti-trawling projects in the coast off Parana´ in the last 10 years, and for providing all information needed to write this article. Thanks are due to the Avina Foundation for supporting the PREAMAR project and the Brazilian Oil Company (PETROBRAS) for supporting the REBIMAR project. I also thank Roberto Baracho from Scubasul Dive School for providing data on diving tours to the artificial reefs. Three anonymous reviewers have contributed substantially to the improvement of the original manuscript. 1

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Internet sites MarBrasil Association: www.marbrasil.org AVINA Foundation: www.avina.net REBIMAR project: http://marbrasil.org/home/detalhes/2435/Rebimar SCUBASUL dive school: www.scubasul.com.br & http://www. scubasul.com.br/parana.htm

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