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The workshop was held as a parallel event within the XII Brazilian Seminar on Protected Areas and Social Inclusion (Sapis) and the VII Latin American Meeting on Protected Areas and Social Inclusion (Elapis) – Territories, Conserved Areas and Sociobiodiversity: Pathways to Equity and Peace, which took place at the University of Brasília. 

 

Over 40 participants, including managers, researcher and representatives of fishers attended the event to share experiences and develop joint initiatives, with the central objective of promoting the management and strengthening of traditional fishing territories, both inside and outside of protected areas. 

 

The workshop was an opportunity to showcase the upcoming e-book “Small-scale fisheries in Brazil: transformations, methods and governance” to be published by TBTI Global Publication Series, with support from FUNDAJ, UFPR and SIANI. Following the initial presentation, the editors Beatriz Mesquita, Rodrigo P. Medeiros and Sérgio Mattos held a round of discussion inviting the authors to give brief accounts of their chapters and share their reflections on the book’s framework “Transformations, Methods, and Governance.”

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Among others, this discussion emphasized that actions should be undertaken not solely to reveal vulnerabilities but also to highlight existing efforts, drawing on local experiences that can serve as examples for promoting sustainable fishing territories. It also highlighted the need for investments in actions and projects to strengthen and build policy and management elements guided by fishing territories, ensuring access to rights that extend beyond the regulation of resource use. 

 

The workshop also facilitated discussions about the ways to establish TBTI Brazil as a national hub within the TBTI Global network. As part of these discussions, the participants were asked to reflect on the following questions: 

 

• What are the main vulnerabilities affecting small-scale fisheries in Brazil (beyond those portrayed in the book and considering the experiences of participants at the meeting who were not co-authors)?

• ​What elements and/or methodological principles should be considered in projects and/or programs that involve generating information about and/or with small-scale fisheries?

• ​What governance experiences can serve as references and learning opportunities to encourage the development of an approach to territorial management and governance of fishing territories?
   

During this discussion, the participants agreed it is necessary to advance set of principles to be shared by the TBTI Brazil network, especially ethical and methodological ones and create an agenda more closely aligned with social movements. It was also emphasized that the network must continue broadening its engagement and reach out to institutions, researchers and other groups, including in particular small-scale fishers, who were not present at this initial workshop. The participants also discussed a number of immediate actions that could be implemented to propel the establishment of the TBTI Brazil hub.  

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