Habits and customs of crab catchers in southern Bahia, Brazil

BACKGROUND: Brazilian mangrove forests are widely distributed along the coast and exploited by groups of people with customs and habits as diverse as the biology of the mangrove ecosystems. This study identifies different methods of extracting crabs that inhabit the mangrove belts; some of these activities, such as catching individual crabs by hand, are aimed at maintaining natural stocks of this species in Mucuri (south Bahia), Brazil. METHODS: In the studied community, illegal hunting activities that violate Brazilian legislation limiting the use of tangle-netting in mangrove ecosystem were observed. RESULTS: According to our observations, fishermen, to catch individual crabs, use the tangle-netting technique seeking to increase income and are from families that have no tradition of extraction. CONCLUSIONS: This analysis leads us to conclude that catchers from economically marginalised social groups enter mangroves for purposes of survival rather than for purposes of subsistence, because the catching by tangle-netting is a predatory technique. Tangle-netting technique increase caught but also increases their mortality rate. We emphasise that traditional catching methods are unique to Brazil and that manual capturing of crab should be preserved through public policies aimed at maintaining the crab population.