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New ban threatens traditional fishers in Brazil’s Mato Grosso state

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CÁCERES, Brazil — Fisher and bait seller Enilza Silva, 52, is a daughter of Pantanal fishers. When she was younger, Silva tried to keep a job in the municipality of Cáceres, in Mato Grosso state, but the river always called her back. She decided to return to the banks of the Paraguay River to live among fish, tuiuiú birds (Jabiru mycteria), alligators and jaguars. Silva has been fishing for 15 years and is worried about the approval of a new bill that banned commercial fishing in Mato Grosso on Jan. 1 for five years. Authored by the state’s governor, Mauro Mendes, the law, known in Brazil as Cota Zero (Zero Quota), was approved under an environmentalist rhetoric of protecting fishing stocks. “A true professional fisherman respects the law and the quantity of fish he can take from the river,” Silva told Mongabay. “We respect the environment in which we live. The bait we catch if it is too small, we select and take it back to the place where we fished the bait. That’s respect.” The law exempts subsistence fishing by Quilombola, Indigenous and other Native peoples from restrictions and catching fish on river banks for local consumption. However, the transport, storage and sale of fish are prohibited. Experts and locals like Silva say the law was tailored to boost sport fishing since catch-and-release activities remain permitted — a tourism modality that Mendes wants to encourage in Mato Grosso. “I’m tired of seeing tourists who catch the fish, come with…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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