Files
Abstract
This dissertation employs multiple analytical lenses to explore how a small-scale fishing ban articulates with the sustainable resource use and wellbeing objectives of Marine Extractive Reserve Cururupu (MA, Brazil). To do so it employed mixed methods drawing from the natural and social sciences as well as visual arts to ask: how do zangaria fisheries and a seasonal fishing ban differentially shape wellbeing in local communities, and how does the ban period overlap with the ecological patterns of a key livelihood species (Litopenaeus schmitti) and species the ban aims to protect (Cetengraulis edentulus; Sardinella brasiliensis)? Fieldwork was carried out over 13 months (2016 – 2017) in two reserve communities and informed by 2014 research. The Brazilian sardine (Sardinella brasiliensis), which was said to be a species the ban aims to protect, was not present in fishery-dependent sampling. This lends support to 2014 data that S. brasiliensis was initially misidentified and is instead C. edentulus, which commonly shows up prior to the ban period. Fish sampling and ethnoecological interviews suggest that the marginalization of localized knowledge in governance arenas has contributed to scalar mismatches between the ban period, livelihood activities (L. schmitti harvest), and the ecological patterns of the species the ban aims to protect (C. edentulus). Visual ethnography methods were employed to explore zangaria fishing foodways and illuminated how dominant narratives have overlooked actors and gendered labor, including non-monetized food labor performed by women, critical to understanding wellbeing and thus fishing ban impacts in communities. Multimedia methods also revealed the embodied and emplaced dimensions of experience in fisheries, which can have strong affective components linked to identity, tradition, and landscape. A ban-impact questionnaire, paired with qualitative data, showed that the ban has differential impacts on multidimensional (social) wellbeing across and within communities. During the ban, reports of food insecurity increased alongside reports of being gifted catch, underscoring the importance of food sharing networks and diverse economies that support community resilience. Findings contribute to interdisciplinary marine policy and conservation discussions concerned with developing more inclusive, pluralistic, and equitable framings of wellbeing, environmental governance, and sustainable human-environment relations.