Traditional knowledge of the fishermen of the lower Juruá river: Aspects related to the feeding habits of fish in the region

Abstract

In recent decades, traditional knowledge or know-how has been recognized by the academic community in a more expressive fashion, allowing contributions to be made, through the ethnosciences, to natural resource management in diverse types of ecosystems, relating this type of knowledge with the interactions between the local populations and their environment. However, there are only few studies involving this type of knowledge by Amazonian populations. The present study analyzes the knowledge that the resident traditional populations located in the Extractive Reserve of the Lower Juruá River possess on aspects related to feeding behavior of fish in the region. The data were collected in 2008 and 2009, always at the end of the low-water period, when the more- experienced fishermen are gathered for the counting and harvesting of 'arapaima' (Arapaima gigas). Use was made of semi-structured interviews applied to the fishermen considered local 'specialists' with regards to the subject of fishing. The option of analysis of the data obtained in the interviews was the categorization of the content of the responses. The data were also analyzed through an emic/etic sampling, and through the elaboration of comparative cognition tables in which the traditional knowledge is compared with excerpts from the current scientific literature. The fishermen demonstrated extensive knowledge on the feeding behavior of the fish in the region, in addition to their predators, always relating this to the function of the hydrological cycle and their stage of life.