Marine Policy 37 (2013) 3744

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Marine Policy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpol

Artisanal shing as an undesirable way of life? The implications for

governance of shers wellbeing aspirations in coastal Uruguay and
southeastern Brazil
Micaela Trimble a,n, Derek Johnson b,1
a
b

Natural Resources Institute, 303-70 Dysart Road, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, R3T 2N2
Department of Anthropology, 443 Fletcher Argue Building, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

a r t i c l e i n f o

abstract

Available online 4 June 2012

In Piriapolis (Uruguay) and Paraty (Brazil), artisanal shers view shing as a way of life, rather than just
a job. The freedom of shing and an inherent satisfaction in the occupation gure large in shers
attachment to it. There are strong indications, however, that the relationship of shers to shing is
changing. First, while shers from both areas wish to keep shing in the future, they are moving into
different occupations or supplementing their work in shing with other employment. Second, artisanal
shers from Piriapolis and Paraty identied shing as an undesirable occupation for their children
because they believe that in the future shing will no longer be a viable occupation. Nonetheless,
despite the wishes of their parents, young men and women in Piriapolis and to a much lesser degree in
Paraty continue to become involved in shing and shing-related activities. The paper uses a social
wellbeing perspective to interpret sher responses to the changing circumstances they face. Wellbeing
is a lens to understand the distinctive features of artisanal sheries and helps to understand shers
disenchantment with sheries governance processes, in a scenario where participation is being
promoted by the state in Uruguay and Brazil. The implications of these ndings for state efforts to
promote sher participation in governance are discussed.
& 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Artisanal sheries
Wellbeing
Governance
Way of life
Uruguay
Brazil

1. Introduction
Artisanal sheries, like the family farm and the rural community, have an important place in academic analysis and popular
accounts as a richly symbolic other to the alienating experience of
life in the impersonal world of capitalism. As such, they serve
useful normative and political purposes in combating economically reductionist perspectives on sheries management and
development. As with any ideal type that reduces a complex
phenomenon to an analytical construct [1], however, it is important to be cautious about the limitations of the idea of artisanal
sheries. Too much attention to the idealized form obscures the
historical and spatial variability of artisanal sheries, features that
have important consequences for artisanal sheries governance.
This paper seeks to balance empathy for the normative view of
artisanal sheries with a grounded appreciation for the everyday
struggles that artisanal shers engage in as they devise various
solutions to maintain and improve their quality of life in contexts

Corresponding author. Tel.: 1 598 25252051.

E-mail addresses: mica.trimble@gmail.com (M. Trimble),
Derek_Johnson@umanitoba.ca (D. Johnson).
1
Tel.: 1 204 474 6330.
0308-597X/$ - see front matter & 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2012.04.002

of ongoing and major change. The paper is written with a backdrop of transition: the two reference cases, the shing area of
Piriapolis in Uruguay and the coastal region of Paraty in Brazil, are
in the midst of globalization-induced transformations that are
shifting the basis of peoples livelihoods and threatening intergenerational rupture. A wellbeing perspective is used as a vehicle
for interpreting sher responses to the changing circumstances
they face. Wellbeing offers an analytical lens that brings into
focus the distinctive features of artisanal sheries while also
highlighting the diversities that exist within and between them
and also between empirical cases and ideal type renderings of
artisanal shing. The kinds of ne-tuned understandings that a
wellbeing perspective generates are also valuable for social policy
and resource management because they help understand how
material endowments, social heterogeneity, and subjective considerations shape peoples interest and involvement in governance of the artisanal sheries sector. In Piriapolis and Paraty, a
wellbeing perspective gives insights into the unexpected decisions that shers are taking and helps to understand their
disenchantment with sheries governance processes. The paper
begins by arguing that social wellbeing is a useful way to understand the current transition in artisanal sheries. It then gives
background to the two case studies in Uruguay and Brazil before

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M. Trimble, D. Johnson / Marine Policy 37 (2013) 3744

reviewing the evidence for perceptions of shing and governance

experiences in both study sites. In its nal sections, the paper
compares the two sites, with particular attention to intergenerational wellbeing aspirations and the value of a social wellbeing
approach for sheries policy.

2. Wellbeing and the transition in artisanal sheries

In the sheries literature, artisanal sheries often carry a great
deal of symbolic weight. They are the rhetorical counterpoints to
the modernist view of sheries based on industrial efciency and
neo-classical sheries economics. The alternative artisanal sheries model stands for social justice and ecological sustainability [2]. From this perspective, artisanal sheries are preferable to
the modernist view because of their comparatively positive social
and ecological benets. Socially, artisanal sheries support community and embody the satisfactions of use value production:
shing for artisanal shers is not just a job, it is a way of life [3].
An important body of work has substantiated this point by
documenting the relatively high degree of job satisfaction that
artisanal shers report. As Pollnac and Poggie, the leading gures
in this area note, there is more to shing than money [4: 194].
There is much to recommend this normative perspective on
artisanal sheries but it is most effective when used self-consciously as an ideal type that will always to some degree be at
variance with the reality of specic artisanal sheries. The current
situation of artisanal sheries is that they are under considerable
stress. Specic factors vary from shery to shery but, in general,
artisanal sheries have been struggling to cope with the effects of
globalization, namely, global demand for sh that outstrips
supply, major and competing transformations in the use of the
coast, and the predominant inuence in sheries management
thinking of a narrow neo-classical economic perspective. Another
way of thinking about the current situation of artisanal sheries is
that they are being subject to the discipline of global capitalism.
Their perceived resistance to that discipline is a fundamental part
of the narrative that underpins the normative view of artisanal
sheries. This point then leads to the guiding question for this
paper: in the context of the major changes transforming their
sheries and their regions, are shers in Piriapolis and Paraty
responding in ways that reect a commitment to their occupation
that is much greater than just a calculation of its material
benets? In other words, are they holding strongly to their way
of life?
This question can be very usefully addressed through reference to wellbeing theory. This paper is guided by the social
wellbeing approach developed at the University of Bath by the
ESRC Research Group on Wellbeing in Developing Countries
Group (WeD) (cf. [5]). Wellbeing is both an objective and an
analytical tool. In the former sense, it can be seen as a holistic goal
towards which individuals or groups strive. It emerged in contrast
to single economic indicators of success like GDP which fail to
incorporate criteria that may be critical to individual or societal
wellbeing such as environmental degradation, social inequality,
or physical insecurity. Researchers using the WeD approach have
synthesized the analytical power of wellbeing through a summary tool known as 3D wellbeing [6]. From this perspective,
wellbeing is broken down into three determinants: material,
relational, and subjective. Material includes the traditional utility
measure of income but also includes other physical resources that
an individual (or group) has access to such as a healthy environment, adequate shelter, and food security. The relational dimension of wellbeing refers to the realm of social interaction,
suggesting that an individuals sense of self depends fundamentally on the quality of his or her social relations, whether in the

family, work, or other context. Subjective wellbeing draws in the

importance of culture: human self-evaluations of quality of life
are shaped by prevailing societal norms and values. For analytical
purposes the three dimensions are separated but wellbeing
scholars emphasize that they in fact intersect [7, 8]. Values, for
example, shape permissible social relations and perceptions of
what constitutes material success. The strength of wellbeing as an
analytical perspective is that it directs attention to the diverse
ways in which wellbeing may be framed and how those framings
inform action.
There is thus a strong compatibility between a wellbeing
perspective and prevailing views of artisanal sheries within
social science. Both emphasize the multi-dimensional quality of
their subjects lives and resist the idea that human actors are
motivated by narrow calculations of utility. Equally, both predispose us to seeing artisanal sheries as internally and externally
heterogeneous [9]. What wellbeing brings to pre-existing
approaches to understanding artisanal sheries, however, is a
systematic analytical approach, associated with a suite of
research tools [10,11], that brings new rigor to research on the
subject, whether motivated normatively or not.
Wellbeing is also a valuable analytical tool when thinking about
governance in artisanal sheries [9]. Governance is composed of a
set of relationships guided by conscious and unconscious norms
[12]. In the sheries context, governance has clear material targets
in such areas as ensuring livelihoods and food security, providing
societal rents, and sustaining the capacity of ecosystems to provide
services. Governance may also aspire to relational and cultural
ends such as reducing conict and ensuring cultural and knowledge diversity. Wellbeing also provides a basis for insight into
participation. Governance processes in sheries should engage
artisanal shers in ways that are sensitive to material, relational
and subjective considerations. In Piriapolis and Paraty government-led sheries management efforts have failed to design
policies to consider these factors, leaving a legacy of mistrust and
skepticism among artisanal shers.

3. Methods and description of case study areas

In this research two case studies were undertaken [13]: the
rst in Piriapolis, on the coast of the Ro de la Plata estuary
(Uruguay), and the second in Praia Grande and Ilha do Araujo
(Praia Grandes adjacent island), in Paraty Municipality (RJ State,
Brazil) (Fig. 1). In this paper, Praia Grande and Ilha do Araujo are
referred to as Paraty area, while the Piriapolis area comprises
four landing sites (Pesquero Stella Maris, Puerto de Piriapolis,
Playa Hermosa, Playa Verde).
Fieldwork in Piriapolis was conducted during 2010 (May
August) and 2011 (MarchOctober). In Paraty, the study period
lasted three months (November 2010January 2011). Data collection procedures consisted of semi-structured interviews [14] along
with complementary participant observation. During interviews
and numerous informal conversations with men and women
working in the shery, the following topics were addressed:






Why do they work in the shery?

Why do they like it?
What are their future aspirations?
What future aspirations do they have for their children?

Interviews on wellbeing and other topics were conducted with

16 shers in Piriapolis and 10 in Paraty and lasted from one to
three hours. Fishers were selected for interview purposively to
maximize respondent diversity in terms of age, years of experience in the shery, and gear used. The number of formal

M. Trimble, D. Johnson / Marine Policy 37 (2013) 3744

39

Fig. 1. Case study areas: Piriapolis (Uruguay) and Praia Grande and Ilha do Araujo (Paraty, Brazil).

interviews conducted was limited because in both areas several

shers are reluctant to be interviewed by researchers. As shers
explained, they are tired of answering questions that will have no
effect in improving the shery. Partly due to shers mistrust,
interviews were not audio-recorded but only recorded by note
taking. In addition, the data from interviews was validated
through complementary informal conversations while participating in shers daily activities that were part of Trimbles broader
ethnographic research for her PhD. By living in the study communities, the researcher had the opportunity to establish close
relationships with shers, and to pose the same question to a
given sher at different times. This is particularly important given
the dynamic and changing conditions of the sheries in both
areas. The 3D WeD approach did not explicitly guide data
collection but in the qualitative analysis it has been possible to
extract evidence for the material, relational and subjective elements of wellbeing.
Piriapolis is a tourist city in Maldonado Municipality that was
founded in 1890. Ten thousand people live in Piriapolis throughout the year, but this number increases to 40,000 during the
austral summer. According to oral histories, as far back as 1930
there were a small number of shing boats in Piriapolis. At
present there are 50 shing boats in the Piriapolis area, although
some are disused or used only seasonally. The shing gear most
commonly employed consists of bottom-set long-lines and gillnets of varied mesh sizes to catch different sh species. Most of
the catch has always been sold (mainly via middlemen) and thus
the primary signicance of the shery has been as a source of
income rather than a source of food. Over the past 20 years,
Piriapolis has received migrant shers from other coastal localities during the high shing season. Nowadays, most artisanal
shers in Piriapolis are mobile (nomads or migratory in their
own words): they move along the coast (either sailing or carrying
their boats on a truck) in response to whitemouth croaker movements (one of the main commercial species). The number of
shers therefore varies greatly throughout the year (e.g. from 30
to 150 shers) mainly due to resource availability. Two to four
shers work on board boats that range in length from four to
eight meters and use motors that vary from 8 to 60 horsepower. A
few Piriapolis shers dislike migrating in search of sh because of
their strong attachment to place and thus generally have other
occupations to supplement their work as shers. Their most
common additional occupations are as construction workers, as
crew on industrial trawler vessels based in Montevideo, as

vendors in the sh market, as woodcutters, and as professional

gardeners (especially during the austral summer). Some migrant
shers also have additional occupations seasonally.
Paraty (with about 37,000 inhabitants) is one of the municipalities in Ilha Grande Bay, a well-known national and international tourist destination in southern Rio de Janeiro State. In
Paraty, artisanal sheries have been both a source of food and
income for the Caic-aras, who are descendants of Portuguese
colonizers, native peoples (such as the Guarani and the Tupinamba) and African slaves [15]. From 40 to 70% of the protein
consumed by Caic- aras comes from marine resources [16]. Caic- ara
livelihoods are composed of a mix of activities including artisanal
sheries, small-scale agriculture, and increasingly, tourism and
the sale of non-timber forest products [17]. In Praia Grande and
Ilha do Araujo, small-scale agriculture and artisanal sheries were
more prominent in the past. As shery resources have been in
decline since 1990 according to shers, most shers began
looking for additional or alternative sources of income in their
communities, mainly as tourism operators or as domestics.
Working as domestics became increasingly common as people
from nearby cities (outsiders) started to buy Caic- ara land to
build their houses (usually for holidays). Currently, most shers
alternate shing with tourism: they sh mainly in winter and do
boat trips, sometimes to sh, with tourists in summer. The shing
tradition remains stronger in Ilha do Araujo, with an estimated
number of 50 shers from the 116 households of the village, as
opposed to 25 in Praia Grande from a population of 140 households, where shers have been increasingly moving to tourism.
Most shers have always shed locally within the Ilha Grande
Bay; they are not mobile as in Uruguay. Fishers are generally
canoe and/or boat owners and they work on their own (i.e. one
sher per canoe or boat). Although canoes have been largely
replaced by motorized boats, some shers, especially the older
ones, still use canoes to go shing. Fishing gear consists of trawl
nets and otter trawls for shrimps, gillnets of different mesh sizes
for sh and shrimps, and, to a lesser degree, long-lines. Otter
trawls have been increasingly used over the past 25 years,
partially replacing hook and line, and gillnets.
In both Uruguay and Brazil, sheries are legally the property of
the State. In Uruguay, DINARA (The National Directorate of
Aquatic Resources) within the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture
and Fisheries (MGAP) is the current institution in charge of
management. In Brazil, that institution is the Ministry of Fisheries
and Aquaculture (MPA). On the Ro de la Plata coast (Uruguay)

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M. Trimble, D. Johnson / Marine Policy 37 (2013) 3744

and Ilha Grande Bay (Brazil), sheries management has been

largely top-down and focused on supporting the industrial sector.

4. Fishers wellbeing: is shing a desirable or undesirable way

of life?
polis (Uruguay)
4.1. Case study 1: Piria
In Piriapolis there are artisanal shers of various ages: from
under the legal age of 18 to over 70. Some of them started shing
when they were as young as seven, whereas others started when
they were in their twenties, thirties, or even forties. During
informal conversations with shers, they referred to four not
mutually exclusive reasons to explain why they work in the
shery: they have family members in the shery; they like it;
they make good money; and they do not have the training for
other trades. These four reasons were then used as options in a
closed-ended question during semi-structured interviews with 16
shers; see Table 1. These ndings support the observation that
the shery is not the only occupation shers can have: most of
them have become shers because they liked it. This is the way of
life they have chosen, or as a sher put it the shery is my life.
In fact, all shers in Piriapolis gave positive answers when
asked if they liked shing, arguing that they feel free and
independent in this job due to a lack of a xed time schedule
and a boss. In addition to this exibility, which enables them to
decide whether or not to go shing on a given day, shers
highlighted that they love the sea and adventure. While not
considered as important as these positive dimensions, shers
identied negative aspects of working in the artisanal shery:
most shers are informal workers (i.e. they do not contribute to a
social service fund or a retirement fund), they get back injuries
even when young (e.g. gillnets and long-lines are pulled by hand
in most boats), and income is unstable.
In the Piriapolis shery, shers wives and other women do
shore work related to shing. This work involves preparing the
long-lines, known as alistar, and baiting the hooks or disentangling the sh from gillnets when the boats arrive at the port. All of
these tasks are also done by youth of both sexes, either when they
work as apprentices in the shery, or as a fall-back when they do
not have an alternative occupation. At least one shermans wife
in the study area holds a shing license, although she does not go
shing often. Women are in charge of cooking for their husbands
and children, cleaning the house, and looking after the children.
One of the reasons why women like to work as alistadoras is that
they can work while taking care of the children. Moreover, the
lack of a xed time schedule is compatible with them being
housewives; they can choose whether to do the shery job at the

Table 1
Why did individuals interviewed become shers?
Reasons for working in the sherya
Family in the shery
Like shing
Make good money
Lack of alternative (or better) choices
a

Piriapolis n16
b

3
13
7
5

Paraty n10
7
3c
2
2

The question was closed-ended in Piriapolis. In Paraty a given sher could

mention more than one reason for working in the shery but all of these reasons
could be grouped under the same four responses that had been identied in
Piriapolis.
b
Six shers have family members in the shery, although only three of them
noted that this is one of the reasons for working in the shery.
c
Even though only three shers mentioned the pleasurable aspects of shing
as one of the reasons for working in the shery (open-ended question), when
asked specically if they liked shing, all gave positive answers.

landing site or at home. The work can be exhausting, however,

and with long-lines there is always the risk of pricking oneself
with the hooks. Women who have informal child care arrangements may have additional occupations such as house cleaning
for others.
In Uruguay it is common for artisanal shers to have worked in
the large-scale shery but not all artisanal shers are interested
in doing so. Those who have not worked in large-scale shing
have done so for lack of opportunity, because they do not like the
idea of being away for one to two weeks at a time, or out of
principled opposition to the non-selective and bottom-damaging
nets used in trawling. Interestingly, one artisanal sher who
mentioned in 2010 that he would not work on the large-scale
trawlers due to the last reason was doing so in 2011 because he
was not making enough money for a living in the artisanal shery
and he could also get medical insurance as a crew member on a
large-scale boat. Even though the sher prefers working in the
artisanal shery, the example shows that material needs may
trump subjective preference.
In 2010, when shers were asked if they wanted to keep
working in the artisanal shery in the future, all except one
replied afrmatively (Table 2). The one who replied negatively
stated he wished he could nd a better job because here if you
sh you eat, otherwise you dont. It is worth explaining that this
sher was referring to the income instability in the artisanal
shery; if he does not catch sh to sell, he will not have money to
buy food (sh is not an important component of shers diet in
coastal Uruguay). In 2011, however, of those shers who had
replied afrmatively the previous year, one had already quit the
shery because he found a stable job as night watchman in the
port. He said that although he does not make much money he
does have a xed salary every month. However, when asked if he
is happy with the new job, he said he is not because he misses
shing (due to his current working hours, he has no chance of
combining both activities). This feeling of missing the shery
also arose in conversations with shers who still work in the
shery; a few mentioned that they cannot imagine themselves
quitting the shery because they would miss it and would return.
Sometimes shers are obliged to do this exercise of imagining
themselves in a different job because their wives and/or their
children ask them to quit the shery. In fact, at least one sher got
divorced because his wife could not cope with his absence from
home; he stated that for him the shery is more important than
anything and for no reason would he quit it.
Furthermore, at least three other shers who had stated in
2010 that they would like to stay in the artisanal shery were
looking for alternative jobs in 2011. One sher explained this is
because he wants to be close to his family and he is tired of
migrating after the sh. Two other shers stated that they are
looking for alternative occupations because the shery is no
longer protable. One also mentioned that shers are nobody,
meaning that they lack all the benets of workers in the formal
sector. However, both shers wished that they could stay in their
current occupation because they love it. As one noted, I have
always worked doing this. I wish to keep shing but its not
enough. When they were asked what would need to change to

Table 2
Fishers aspirations for themselves and their children.
In the future

Piriapolis
n 16

Paraty
n 10

Would like to keep working in the shery

Would like their children to work in the
shery

15
2

8
0

M. Trimble, D. Johnson / Marine Policy 37 (2013) 3744

keep them in the artisanal shery, both separately referred to the

unsustainable large-scale shing model in Uruguay.
In general it is apparent that artisanal shers have no hope
that the shery will recover. They feel powerless against the
business interests of the large-scale sector: most large-scale
coastal trawlers are owned by 45 companies, the majority of
the catch is exported, and this business has been historically
supported by the government. Therefore, it is not surprising that
shers quitting the shery is now a common topic of conversation
in Piriapolis.
When shers were asked if they would like their children to
work in the shery, only two out of 16 said yes, because it would
give them independence. Three shers preferred not answering
this difcult question whereas eleven explained that the shery
is an undesirable future for their children. The reasons for the
latter answer are diverse: shing resources have been declining
(this is just survival, as one sher said); shing is a dangerous
and hard occupation; income is unstable; it is an ugly environment; and staying in a hovel away from home is not life, as one
migratory sher pointed out. The rst reason seems to be the
most prominent. As a sher put it, I wish the best for them.
Fishing is not protable as in the past. The one sher who had
said that the shery is more important for him than anything else
and that he would never quit did not allow his son-in-law to
become a sher, although the young man wanted to do so,
because the trade he already had as a plasterer would give him
a better future. Three shers were asked which changes could
turn the shery into a desirable future for their children. In
addition to changing the national shing model, as mentioned
by two shers above, another said that the artisanal shery
should become important for the government. One said that if
there were as many shing resources as in the past, he would
encourage his children to work in the shery. If the resource base
improved, plausibly many shers would encourage their children
to remain in it. Not surprisingly, the observation that shing is no
longer protable is also what makes shers think that the shery
is an undesirable future for their children and is why some shers
are looking for alternative occupations. These views about the
undesirability of shing for their children are shared by shers
wives who want a better future for their children. However, one
shers wife who is an alistadora, added that if her two sons
decided to become shers, that would not be bad because they
would work among friends.
With regards to the actual future aspirations for their children,
shers wish they could study subjects like computing or work in
other elds such as construction, or whatever they choose.
However, contrary to these aspirations, it is not uncommon in
Piriapolis to see shers sons and daughters working in the
shery: boys start going shing once they have acquired shorebased skills like preparing and baiting long-lines, whereas girls
work as alistadoras. Three shers daughters work at their fathers
sh market stalls. Fishers sons and daughters who do not work in
the shery end up doing diverse jobs. Only the minority get to
nish high-school and continue studying. Dropping out happens
partly due to economic reasons: the household needs income
from all its members and it is not easy to study and work at the
same time.
Artisanal shers in Piriapolis are not satised with the topdown regime of DINARA, and have expressed willingness to
participate in governance, although this does not seem easy to
achieve. According to a sher from Piriapolis, DINARA decides
everything and makes the laws. DINARA does not accept advice
from shers. Fishers have commented that the government
should consider their knowledge about the shery when it comes
to making decisions. However, they have had unsatisfactory
experiences in interacting with the government. For example,

41

shers who have participated in consultative meetings organized

by DINARA since 2006 said that their opinions were not taken
into actual consideration by this institution. These unsuccessful
experiences inevitably mean a barrier for DINARAs recently
expressed intentions of dening management measures jointly
with sher groups, a process which represents one of the rst
sheries co-management initiatives in the country [18]. Most
shers are no longer interested in attending meetings organized
by DINARA or meetings where ofcers of that institution will be
present.
jo (Paraty, Brazil)
4.2. Case study 2: Praia Grande and Ilha do Arau
In the Paraty area, there are only a few young shers under 30;
most shers are older than 40. The majority of shers started
shing when they were 12 years old or younger. Some started as
young as seven years old. When shers were asked the open-ended
question why they work in the shery, the four non-mutually
exclusive reasons in Table 1 came up. Besides being the most
frequently identied reason for starting to work in the shery, the
kinship basis of shing in Paraty is evident: all the shers interviewed have had family members in the shery, usually fathers and
brothers, but some also had grandfathers and uncles.
Even though only a few shers mentioned the pleasurable
aspects of shing as one of the reasons for working in the shery,
when asked specically if they liked shing, all gave positive
answers. Fishers in Paraty like shing because they nd it relaxing
(e.g. to be at sea is like therapy); they value the independence of
shing (e.g. I like to be free; in the shery I work freely); they
love the sea; shing is fun; they grew up in the shery; and they
like to catch sh to eat while making money at the same time.
However, one sher said that shing used to be a therapy but now
he hesitates to go shing due to the uncertainty in catches
associated with resource decline. Income instability was mentioned as a negative aspect by some shers. Some shers felt that
currently they still make good money, whereas others disagreed
and argued that the shery was much more protable in the past:
although sh prices were lower, catches were much higher.
In the Paraty shery, women generally work on land. In Ilha do
Araujo, about 12 women are in charge of peeling shrimp caught
either by their husbands or other shers, whereas a few women
also catch crabs from shore and sell their meat. Moreover, there is
at least one woman who goes shing with her partner everyday,
one of the few cases where more than one person shes from a
single boat. Most women who process shrimp and crabs on land
like their work: working at home enables them to cook, clean the
house and look after the children at the same time. In Praia
Grande, nevertheless, women used to work peeling shrimps as in
Ilha do Araujo but almost all of them have moved to activities not
related to the shery such as handicraft production. They quit
because they did not like peeling shrimps which damages their
skin because they do not use gloves and because it is boring.
Fishers wives from both communities not working in the shery
have diverse occupations including cleaning the houses of rich
people or outsiders and working as nurses and cooks in small
restaurants.
Currently, most shers alternate shing with work in tourism:
they sh mainly in winter and do boat trips for tourists in
summer. Some shers, however, have moved completely into
tourism whereas others prefer alternative occupations, such as
working in small restaurants and inns that they sometimes own,
in construction, or as gardeners and domestics. Fishers who do
not like doing boat trips explained that it is a job which requires
patience to serve tourists, it might involve communication difculties with tourists due to the need to speak other languages, and
it has a xed schedule. A big advantage of doing boat trips for

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M. Trimble, D. Johnson / Marine Policy 37 (2013) 3744

tourists, however, is that it is more protable than shing, aside

from being enjoyable to take tourists to sh. Despite all the
different activities that shers have done, shing is usually the
one they like the most. Fishers older than 60 are generally retired
but keep shing because they love shing, they want sh to eat,
or they need additional sources of income. Women working in the
shery can also go into retirement if they have contributed to the
social fund administered by the Col
onia de Pescadores, the local
municipal sher association, in coordination with the National
Institute of Social Services (INSS).
When asked about their future, almost nobody (men or
women) mentioned a desire to change his or her job; shers
want to keep shing (Table 2). People in Praia Grande and Ilha do
Araujo do not want to move to a different community (e.g. my
roots are here, my life is here). Nonetheless, although most
people seem satised living where they live and doing what they
do, they feel discouraged when thinking about their community
20 years in the future: they pointed out that more and more
outsiders will come and there will be few Caic- aras left; it will
become an unbearably noisy and dirty place; sh resources will
be depleted and almost no sher will make a living from the
shery; and there will be more tourists than shers. Despite its
economic benets, therefore, most local people are unenthusiastic
about the transition from shing to tourism.
When shers were asked about their childrens future, they
mentioned that they want them to study, particularly at the postsecondary level, so that they can have more options, or to work in
the tourist sector so as to make good money. As a sher expressed,
(I wish) they could do university studies. That gives a better life,
because shing life is getting very difcult. The youth who are
growing up do not want to stay in the shery. University gives more
options. Another sher pointed out that they cannot inuence their
children (its their choice). When shers were asked if they would
like their children to work in the shery, nobody replied afrmatively, arguing that resources are declining and shing is a hard job.
According to a sher, The future of the shery is now uncertain. It
doesnt have stability. The days of shing are numbered. Fishing, in
other words, was seen as an undesirable occupation for shers
children. Fishers prefer their children to have a stable job on land
and to limit themselves to sport shing. Some shers explained that
in the past they would have liked their children to work in the
shery because resources were more abundant then. Fishers
aspirations for their children are being realized: shers sons have
not become shers but study or work as waiters, gardeners, and
marine guides for outsiders. Similarly, shers daughters are not
involved in shrimp processing but study or work as school teachers,
accountants, cleaning ladies, or handicraft makers.

In Ilha Grande Bay, where Paraty is located, sheries management has been largely top-down. Unsurprisingly, shers in Praia
Grande and Ilha do Araujo are not satised with this regime and
would like greater involvement in governance. When shers were
asked if the government should consider their opinions before
taking sheries measures, all replied afrmatively. Some comments made by shers illustrate this better: Fishers have more
knowledge than them (the government). They have the theory,
shers have the practice; Many things that they do have nothing
to do with reality; (If they consulted us) they would understand
what they do not know; They could be guided by shers. But that
will never happen! As it is shown by the latter comment, some
shers have no hope that an alternative mode of interaction
between shers and government based on joint decision making
could be possible. As a consequence, meetings with government
agencies are perceived as useless by shers. Even though shers
wish that their knowledge was taken into actual consideration by
the government, their dissatisfaction with it has created a barrier
to the success of the current government sponsored shift towards
more participatory modes of artisanal sheries governance, such
as the shing agreements (Acordos de Pescaa type of comanagement arrangement) currently being institutionalized in
Ilha Grande Bay by the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture [19].

5. Discussion
Findings from Piriapolis (Uruguay) and Paraty (Brazil) supported the large literature in developed and developing countries
showing that shing is a way of life rather than just a job [4;20].
Artisanal shers from the above case studies, regardless of
differences in the reasons why they started shing, identied
pleasurable aspects of their occupation, similar to those found
elsewhere. The ndings presented in this paper provide, then,
additional evidence against the assumption made by shery
researchers and policy makers in developing countries that shing is an employment of last resort [2023].
In Paraty there is a strong shing tradition grounded in kinship
relationships whereas in Piriapolis shers took up shing because
they liked it and made good money. In both instances the freedom
of shing and an inherent satisfaction in the occupation gured
strongly in shers attachment to it. As Fig. 2 shows, despite these
positive reasons for working in the shery, however, there are
strong indications that the relationships of shers to shing is
changing. First, while shers from both areas wish to keep shing
in the future, they are moving into different occupations or
supplementing their work in shing with other employment. This

Fig. 2. Similarities (in white type) and differences between artisanal shers perceptions of shing in Piriapolis and Paraty.

M. Trimble, D. Johnson / Marine Policy 37 (2013) 3744

trend is more evident in Paraty, where many shers have become

charter boat operators for tourists, than in Piriapolis, where
shers are looking for alternatives to shing. In contrast to what
has happened in several countries where shers were provided
with alternative employment options as a response to overshing
with unsuccessful results [4,20], the trend observed in Paraty and,
less sharply, in Piriapolis of shers leaving the shery seems to be
self-initiated. This goes against the common assumption that
artisanal shers are resistant to leaving shing because of their
high attachment to their way of life even in scenarios of reduced
catches and available alternative occupations (e.g. [20]). Second,
artisanal shers from Piriapolis and Paraty identied shing as an
undesirable occupation for their children. More than efforts to
diversify their present day livelihoods, this lack of optimism for
the succeeding generations prospects in shing marks the most
serious aw in the assumption of shers attachment to their
occupation. Fishers are saying, in effect, that in the future shing
will no longer be a viable occupation.
Why is it, then, that shers from Piriapolis and Paraty are
apparently losing their attachment to shing? While there is no
denitive answer to this question, a social wellbeing perspective
offers a useful way of considering its different dimensions. The
rst factor to consider is that Piriapolis and Paraty are both in the
midst of major socio-economic and ecological transitions that are
driving enormous changes in the context and conditions of shing. Materially, relationally, and aspirationally, the lives of shers
in both places are changing.
It appears that changing political economic conditions in both
areas are shaping shers perceptions of wellbeing such that
material considerations have become more important than in the
past. This hypothesis is partly supported in Paraty, where a few old
people from Praia Grande and Ilha do Araujo commented that in
the past nobody from their community cared about money as
much as today. This is likely related to the transition from being
natural resources-dependent communities to becoming tourismdependent and to the correspondingly greater exposure to external
ideas and values. In the case of Piriapolis, despite being an
important tourist destination for Uruguayans and foreigners, shers have not had the chance to become charter boat operators as in
Paraty, partly because it is not permitted that shing vessels take
tourists onboard. This has meant that sustained interaction with
outsiders is somewhat less in Piriapolis than Paraty but tourists,
and their economic importance, have nonetheless become a
signicant part of the local landscape. The relative value of tourism
can be seen in the comments of some people from Piriapolis,
including the mayor, who view shers as detrimental for tourism
because they are held to be dirty. This is well known by shers,
who sometimes express that they feel unvalued, excluded and
marginalized by the rest of the people in Piriapolis. While the
research did not explore the inuence of these views on shers
attachment to shing, it is plausible that they factor negatively into
shers perceptions of their occupation.
In the Piriapolis context where shing is seen as a nuisance by
some non-shers and in a context in both Piriapolis and Paraty
where government agencies have done a very poor job of making
artisanal shers feel welcome in sheries governance, it is not
surprising that shers should hesitate to want their children to
pursue the profession. Their position is even more understandable
when the ecological circumstances of shing are considered.
Fishers from both Piriapolis and Paraty mentioned that resources
are declining, driven by what the shers see as overshing by the
large-scale sector, and have little hope for recovery. They stated
that this was one of the main reasons why they would not advise
their children to enter the shery. When all of these changes are
added to the already risky and challenging aspects of shing
(cf.[4]), such as high income instability, the positive associations

43

of shing as a way of life become much less compelling as an

argument for inducting ones children into the profession. Fishers
in the two case study sites appear to be echoing similar views
about the undesirability of shing as an occupation for the next
generation as have been expressed in Indonesia [20].

6. Conclusion
Despite the reluctance of artisanal shers in Piriapolis and
Paraty to encourage their children to take up shing, it is not
inevitable that there will be a loss of attachment to shing or that
artisanal sheries in the two study regions are doomed. This
research is only a brief snapshot of a long historical process and
conditions may well again become favorable for shing in coming
years. Equally, despite the wishes of their parents, young men and
women in Piriapolis, and to a much lesser degree in Paraty,
continue to become involved in shing and shing-related activities. Nonetheless, artisanal shers do feel under pressure as
ecological conditions worsen and they feel neglected by state
sheries management agencies.
There is much that state agencies could do to reverse that
sense of neglect and thereby to ameliorate conditions for the
success of artisanal sheries. Most importantly, artisanal shers
need to be made to feel that they are valued partners in the
governance of sheries and in coastal development. This is a tall
order for state sheries agencies oriented towards industrial
sheries and dominated by natural scientists. A social wellbeing
approach, however, might be a useful basis on which to build
understanding the sector and engagement with it. By adopting
wellbeing as a policy objective, state agencies would be better
equipped to understand the material, relational and subjective
factors that inform decision making for artisanal shers. A social
wellbeing perspective would also direct attention to the social
variations within and between artisanal sheries and clarify the
hard choices that they face. Despite their differences, in both
Piriapolis and Paraty greater state attention to the expressed
needs of shers, whether in the form of reallocation of resources
from the large-scale sector or in efforts to promote their identity,
could reinvigorate the artisanal sector.
The two cases in this paper show that while artisanal shers
do indeed consider their work as something more than just a job,
and indeed see it as part of a way of life, they are also realistic
about the future of shing. There is thus no guarantee that
artisanal shing will continue as the basis of a way of life into
the next generation. Essentially, perpetuation of artisanal sheries as a valuable alternative way of life is a societal choice. If the
arguments for sustainability and social values that artisanal
sheries embody are accepted in Uruguay and Brazil, then both
societies will have to show considerably greater enthusiasm
about nding ways to support them. Social wellbeing provides a
compelling basis to push for the signicance of artisanal sheries
and, potentially, a guide to sheries agencies for how to more
effectively engage with artisanal sher groups so that the latter
can lead efforts to sustain themselves while also adapting to
changing conditions and new challenges and opportunities.

Acknowledgments
This paper is the result of cross-fertilization among three
projects. The rst one constitutes the main component of Trimbles PhD research and is entitled Conditions for adaptive comanagement of artisanal sheries in coastal Uruguay, funded by
the Centre for Community-Based Resource Management (Natural
Resources Institute, University of Manitoba). The second one, in

44

M. Trimble, D. Johnson / Marine Policy 37 (2013) 3744

which Trimble has conducted eldwork for comparative purposes

with Uruguay, is the collaborative research program Communitybased resource management and food security in coastal Brazil, part
of the IDRC/SSHRC International Research Chairs Initiative. The
third is a Canadian International Development Agency funded
Canada-CGIAR Linkage Fund Program project entitled Governing
Small-scale Fisheries for Wellbeing and Resilience: A Canada-World
Fish Center Collaborative Research Program for which Johnson is a
principal investigator. We are grateful to the donor agencies and
to the Manitoba Graduate Scholarship and the University of
Manitoba Graduate Fellowship for nancial support. We especially thank the shers from Piriapolis, Praia Grande and Ilha do
Araujo, and their families, for their warm welcomes and unconditional support. Ignacio Berro kindly made the map of the study
areas. We would also like to recognize the intellectual, nancial,
and logistical support provided by Dr. Fikret Berkes and the
constructive comments from C. Julian Idrobo and two anonymous
reviewers.
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