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Originally inhabited by the Tupi Indians, Brazil's northeastern
coast has been practically inaccessible
by land for over four centuries. This
isolation has enabled the rural fishing
communities there to live independently
from the large urban centers. The fishermen, left to their own devices,
have created a unique culture, preserving
an important collection of primitive fishing
vessels and equipment that can be found
nowhere else in the world. Located on some of the most spectacular, undisturbed
coastline in the world, these waters of
sea, bays, and estuaries have fed families
of fishermen for countless generations.
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Black Magic
Back in 1998, an Endangered Coast
expedition team made its first
exploration into the region. There
in tiny fishing hamlets, they
saw descendants of slaves brought
from Africa in the 1500s. The
region boasts some of the purest
form of Umbanda (white magic)
and
Quimbanda (black magic) in the
world. It is not unusual to find
candles on a deserted beach at
dusk, illuminating offerings of
food and gifts to one of the sixty
Orixás, or spirit gods. To the
north, in communities of Amerindian
and European descent, villagers
with
blond hair and blue eyes are not
uncommon; a legacy of 17th
century Dutch and French rule.
African religion in Brazil-learn more
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Tourism Invasion
Endangered Coast also saw evidence
that the region was shifting away
from agriculture and betting on
tourism to bail them out of their
beleaguered economy. Construction
of paved coastal roads tore open
the region not only to economic
opportunity but to cultural and
environmental degradation. Aided
by a strong Brazilian economy,
economists predict tourism will
soon surpass agriculture as the
leading industry in the Northeast.
Already its growth rate is 160%
faster than the world average.
Believing that employment from
tourism can help lift the region
out of poverty, the Inter-American
Development Bank is the leading
lender in an 800 million dollar
project to finance tourism and
development.
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Why
the Northeast Coast? "The Caribbean
is saturated," says Cello
Sterenburg, tourism secretary
for Pernambucco state, "The
next big tourism development is
going to be Brazil's Northeast."
learn more about smarter tourism |
| EC asked Conservation International, a Washington
DC based environmental watchdog
group, to asses the damage tourism
development has had on the region's
ancient fishing communities. "I
am very concerned," said Paulo
Prado, its Brazilian coordinator,
"Twenty years ago thousands of
these artisan fishing settlements
dotted the 4,000 kilometers of
coastline, today only a hand full
remain." Some are home to jangadeiros,
fishermen who sail the ancient
raft called a jangada. |
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Orson Welles, and
other surprises
The historical legacy of the jangada
dates back to the ancient Greeks
and Romans (it was Ulysses vessel
in "The Odyssey"). The Brazilian
Indians called the jangada CUTINGA,
meaning white tongue, and used it
for fishing well before the arrival
of Portuguese navigator Cabral.The
fishermen who sail these rustic
rafts are called Jangadeiros, and
help maintain the last remnants
of small-scale fishing in the Northeast.
Their daring and courage was documented
in TIME magazine in 1941. Orson Welles and the Raft fishermen - learn
more |
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Blaming whom?
It would be easy to criticize
the government for developing
this fragile coastline. On the
other hand, the benefits loom
large when billions are pumped
into a region in dire need of
economic assistance.
Will the fishermen
profit?
A partial answer lies in a recent sociological
study that echoed conversations
EC has had with fishermen over
the years. The events and eventual
effects of large-scale fishing
on small fishing villages are
similar. When a nearby coastal
highway is built, a once isolated
fishing community becomes a draw
for capital fishing industrialists
and a magnet for landowners, tourists,
and politicians. This increases
the demand for sea products enormously.
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study points out that rural fishermen
with their crude vessels and equipment
are unable to meet that demand.
So with little economic alternative
they abandon their traditional independent,
fishing vessels and go to work for
wealthy boat owners who squelch
their fear of lost autonomy with
promises of upward mobility. In
reality, the fishermen poor and
uneducated have little chance to
succeed. Once proud and independent
many now feel bitter and exploited. |
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Making the Case for Coastal Conservation
While the power of photography
has helped the Brazilian rain
forest receive the attention it
deserves, places like Brazil's
northeastern coast are often ignored.
Lewis W. Hine, a pioneer in social
documentary wrote:
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show the things that had
to be corrected; I wanted
to show the things that
had to be appreciated."
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In that spirit, Endangered Coast
with its team of photographers and
journalists is determined to bring
to the public's attention the disappearing
culture of the Northeast fishermen
and their threatened environment,
which contains a variety of ecosystems.
Its mangrove swamps, beaches, and
reefs, according to a recent U.N.
report, are threatened by development,
over fishing, and indiscriminate
dumping of major pollutants. Its
Atlantic rain forest, according
to WWF is one of the two most endangered
tropical ecosystems in the world,
the other is in Madagascar. Only
2% of its original 1.5 million acres
survives today. Some Brazilian sources,
such as Fundação SOS Mata Atlântica,
believe that unless help arrives
soon, even that will disappear along
with more than 300 species of wildlife.
learn more about this region's environmental
problems |
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One might wonder, where is the outcry
from within Brazil? Unfortunately,
Brazil's environmental movement
lags twenty years behind those in
Europe, Japan, and the United States.
Even the few national parks and
reserves that do exist, while improving,
are still severely under funded
and ineffective. Armed with the
knowledge of a world's shrinking
supply of undeveloped land, its
hard not to get involved when you
stop to consider that by the end
of the decade, photographs like
those enclosed here will not be
possible. |
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