Gestão compartilhada para a pesca artesanal: o caso do Fórum da Lagoa dos Patos/RS

Abstract

Artisanal fisheries are suffering a decline in most coastal areas in Brazil and in the world, which leads to ecological problems, such as the subtraction or even extinction of particular fish species, and to social problems, since fishermen no longer have their main source of livelihood. In Brazil, state intervention has not been sufficient to overcome these difficulties. Therefore, in order to face the crisis in the fisheries sector, an alternative form of management of common property resources arises in the literature. Intellectuals who study this issue have accepted shared management (collective management or co-management) as the best institutional arrangement alternative to avoid the perverse effects of over-exploitation. In this sense, the present work has as its main objective to analyse the shared management form implemented in the estuary of Lagoa dos Patos/Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) through the creation of the Lagoa dos Patos Forum, in 1996. Since this management alternative is based on the relevant role played by the managing bodies and users of such resources, we decided to use the contributions of theoretical analysis on common property resources, focusing on shared management, as we believe that this form of co-management can contribute to the efficient and sustainable use of fishery resources.