“OUR RESERVE”: NETWORKS AND INTERACTIONS AMONG FISH AND FISHERMEN IN THE MIDDLE SOLIMÕES RIVER

Abstract

In this paper we argue that systems of fishery management in the médio Solimões region changed the ways fishermen relate to both the lake’s environment and the fishes that live in the várzea (Amazon floodplains), specially the pirarucu (Arapaima gigas). This change is not fortuitous, but part of a long term historical process of exploitation of fish from várzea lakes. The technologies employed in fish capture has varied historically, according to the scale and aim – subsistence or commerce. Based on an ethnographic approach we seek to explain technical changes caused by the pirarucu sustainable management practices, specially the adoption of fishing nets. We seek to understand how the protection of lakes and fishing management influenced the transformation of technical proces­ses involving fishermen and pirarucu. Keywords: Fishery, technic, management