This thesis analyzes strategies for the community management of artisanal fishing of the
Amazon river prawn (Macrobrachium amazonicum) and its relationship to the local economy
of the Amazon basin in the communities of Santa Maria and São Miguel, Sirituba Island, in the
municipality of Abaetetuba, Pará, Brazil. The main objective was to examine how the artisanal
fishing of Macrobrachium amazonicum is linked to the production of local natural resources
and which strategies the local population can employ in the Abaetetuba Islands to reduce
predatory prawn fishing in the region. Can the extraction of local products, together with
sustainable prawn fishing, such as catch experiments using modified fishing techniques
(matapi), knowledge of local rules and regulations and appropriate management of natural
resources (fishing and extraction) reduce the size of the catch? Strategies such as this
experiment show that there was an increase in the total weight of the catch, resulting in higher
incomes. Furthermore, this production, combined with other extraction products and additional
measures such as environmental education and fishing outreach courses, helps to reduce
predatory fishing. Of the total production recorded in the island (the seasonal extraction of açai
and mirity palm, as well as fish and prawn fishing), over 80% was for sale and complements
the income of fishermen. Qualitative and quantitative studies were conducted, using open and
closed questionnaires, together with a piece of participatory research and a case study. They
were relevant for the two communities and for the type of matapi, given that they can increase
the size of the catch. Catch data evidenced the existence of predatory fishing. Other natural
resources (açai, fish and mirity) and governmental programs are essential and complementary
to fishermen's incomes. In the Islands, prawn fishing has great potential for supplying the
region's local fish trade. It also involves a type of social organization that promotes the
community management of wetlands.
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