Two thousand fishers and supporters from 18 States are gathering in the City Park of Brasilia under the banner of the MPP – the Movement of Men and Women Fishworkers – to launch a campaign to protect and secure their fishing territories and livelihoods.
As Brazil’s national capital, Brasilia is the seat of all three branches of the Brazilian government.
The MPP is demanding that legislators pass a bill to identify and protect the tenure rights of fishing communities to their traditional fishing territories, providing them with secure access rights and promoting the sustainable development of their activities. The campaign aims to gather the 1,385,000 signatures required to draft a bill for the National Parliament.
In Brazil, citizens may propose laws for consideration by the government,but this requires the endorsement of a minimum number of the electorate.
According to the blog (http://noticiaspeloterritorio.blogspot.com.br/)set up by the MPP, the campaign marks a landmark for men and women fishworkers in Brazil, who would like to have their fishing rights recognized and respected. Currently, they find themselves at the mercy of industrial users, who lay claim to their traditional territories for the construction of hydroelectric dams and other such projects. Many communities are being forced off their lands by such industrial projects. They would like to open up a national-level debate on traditional fisheries that would highlight their plight and promote their cause.
The campaign is particularly critical of an initiative launched by the government on “family-based aquaculture”, which seeks to impose a particular model of development, and which excludes traditional fishers.
According to the MPP, this initiative of the Fisheries Ministry treats the men and women who fish in a traditional manner as an obstacle to the kind of exploitation of natural resources they would like to see by large companies.