Project aims to teach fishermen about sea lions and fur seals

Starting in May, an initiative entitled Project Pinnipeds of the South – Conservation of Sea Lions and Fur Seals on the Southern Coast of Brazil, developed by the NGO Center for Environmental Education and Surveillance (Nema), is launching a new phase in their environmental education plan, aimed at raising awareness among fishermen about the preservation of those mammals. Communities from five municipalities in the south of Brazil are to be targeted by the program: Laguna and Passo de Torres, in the state of Santa Catarina; and Torres, Rio Grande, and São José do Norte, in Rio Grande do Sul.

The project is part of a larger program on the conservation of marine mammals on the south coast of Brazil. It began in 1988, sponsored by the state-controlled oil giant Petrobras, and works by monitoring the areas where the pinnipeds go for shelter in the two southern states, the carrying out monthly surveys of the beaches—which total 360 km—, for the analysis of the death rate and occupation dynamics of the pinniped species, and fostering environmental education.

“We're delivering lectures to coastal communities, and thus far we've distributed nearly 5 thousand coursepacks,” project coordinator and oceanographer Kleber Grübel da Silva told Agência Brasil on Monday (Apr 6). Every month at several spots along the coastline, his team locates and saves beached animals and return them to the ecosystem. Scientific expeditions have been carried out in the main areas where the reproduction of pinnipeds takes place, in Argentina and Uruguay.

Grübel argues that the population has become more aware of the need to preserve the life and security of these mammals. “It's not just about how valuable the pinniped species are—species like sea lion and fur seals. It's also about coastal ecosystems,” he said, mentioning the importance of respecting the sea, the cycles and the processes involved, which include the relation between fishermen and waste disposal.

In his view, integration is key for the successful conservation of the pinnipeds. The amount of fish in the region is growing increasingly meager, he notes, unlike fishing, which has seen a major increase in scope with the advent of larger vessels and advanced technology, with probes and monofilament nets. “That causes scarcity, which in turn generates conflicts,” he added, mentioning that sea lions are natural competitors, as they compete with man for the same fishes in the same areas, which causes a lot of specimens to drown or be killed by the fishermen.

“Today, 80 to 100 animals end up dead on our coast,” hence the importance of talking about environmental preservation to the fishermen, Silva said. “The sea must be protected as a whole so that we can avoid scarcity have fish, for both the fishermen and biodiversity. Not just for sea lions and fur seals, but also for other sea mammal species that rely on the fish,” he pointed out.

Grübel da Silva highlighted that fish scarcity is not just a local problem, and that 75% of the world's supply is being overexploited. He also announced the Project Pinnipeds will carry on uninterrupted, even after 2016, when Petrobras's sponsorship is slated to end.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira