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The invisibility of fisheries in the process of hydropower development across the Amazon

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Abstract

We analyze the invisibility of fisheries and inadequacy of fishers’ participation in the process of hydropower development in the Amazon, focusing on gaps between legally mandated and actual outcomes. Using Ostrom’s institutional design principles for assessing common-pool resource management, we selected five case studies from Brazilian Amazonian watersheds to conduct an exploratory comparative case-study analysis. We identify similar problems across basins, including deficiencies in the dam licensing process; critical data gaps; inadequate stakeholder participation; violation of human rights; neglect of fishers’ knowledge; lack of organization and representation by fishers’ groups; and lack of governmental structure and capacity to manage dam construction activities or support fishers after dam construction. Fishers have generally been marginalized or excluded from decision-making regarding planning, construction, mitigation, compensation, and monitoring of the social–ecological impacts of hydroelectric dams. Addressing these deficiencies will require concerted investments and efforts by dam developers, government agencies and civil society, and the promotion of inter-sectorial dialogue and cross-scale participatory planning and decision-making that includes fishers and their associations.

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Notes

  1. Brazilian bills and resolutions: Instrução Normativa IBAMA N°146, 2007; Portaria IBAMA N°10, 200.

  2. Brazilian bill: CONAMA n° 1, de 23 de janeiro de 1986. Pages 2548–2549.

  3. http://www.mabnacional.org.br/category/tema/samuel.

  4. http://www.mabnacional.org.br/amazonia/santo_antonio_e_jirau/sobre_a_barragem_santo-antonio.

  5. Data from Brazilian National Institute for the Environment—IBAMA’s website and technical reports related to the Belo Monte dam licensing process—http://www.licenciamento.ibama.gov.br/hidreletricas/Belomonte/.

  6. Presidential Decree 6040 (Brasil 2007).

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the fishers and the fishers’ organizations from the Madeira, Xingu, Uatumã and Tocantins watersheds for their collaboration. Research informing this article was supported by CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior), through the PROAMAZÔNIA/CAPES (Project No.: 021/2012); the PGCI/CAPES - International Cooperation Project (Project No.: 038/2013); and the Science Without Borders/PVE Project (Process No. 88881.064958/2014-01). We also thank CAPES and CNPq for scholarship support provided to graduate students and post-doctoral researchers involved in this study (CRCD: 201457/2014-8; MALL 7487-14-2). Thanks to the Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR), Universidade Federal do Tocantins (UFT) to the Tropical Conservation and Development Program (TCD) and to the Center for Latin American Studies at University of Florida (UF) for the support. Finally, we acknowledge the support provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to the Amazon Dams Network/ Rede Barragens Amazônicas (ADN/RBA) under Grant No. 1617413. Any opinions, finding, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Ichthyology and Fisheries - Department of Biology, Graduate Program in Environment and Regional Development (PGDRA), Federal University of Rondônia, Campus - BR 364, Km 9,5, Porto Velho, RO, CEP: 76801-059, Brazil

    Carolina Rodrigues da Costa Doria & Maria Alice Leite Lima

  2. Amazon Dams Network, Tropical Conservation and Development Program, Center for Latin American Studies, University of Florida, 381 Grinter Hall, PO Box 115530, Gainesville, FL, 32611-5530, USA

    Simone Athayde

  3. Graduate Program in Environmental Sciences. Department of Biology, Federal University of Tocantins, Campus de Porto Nacional. Rua 03, Quadra 17, Jardim dos Ipês, Porto Nacional, TO, 77500-000, Brazil

    Elineide E. Marques

  4. Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences Program, School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, PO Box 110600, 7922 NW 71st Street, Gainesville, FL, 32653, USA

    Jynessa Dutka-Gianelli

  5. GSA Consulting Environment Ltda, Rua Jornalista Umberto Calderaro Filho, 624. Cond. S. José do Rio negro, Bloco 9B, apt 103, Adrianópolis, Manaus, AM, CEP: 69.057-015, Brazil

    Mauro Luis Ruffino

  6. Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment, Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, 6 Phelps Lab, PO Box 116350, Gainesville, FL, 32611-6350, USA

    David Kaplan

  7. Department of Fisheries Sciences, Federal University of Amazonas, Av. General Rodrigo Otávio, 6200, Manaus, AM, 69077-000, Brazil

    Carlos E. C. Freitas

  8. Department of Fishery Engineering – Faculty of Agriculture Sciences, Federal University of Amazonas, Av. General Rodrigo Otávio, 6200, Manaus, AM, 69077-000, Brazil

    Carlos E. C. Freitas

  9. Fisheries Biology and Aquatic Resources Management Laboratory, Federal University of Pará – UFPA, Av Perimetral 2651 Terra Firme, Belém, PA, CEP 66077-830, Brazil

    Victoria N. Isaac

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  1. Carolina Rodrigues da Costa Doria
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  2. Simone Athayde
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  4. Maria Alice Leite Lima
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  8. Carlos E. C. Freitas
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  9. Victoria N. Isaac
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Correspondence to Carolina Rodrigues da Costa Doria.

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Doria, C.R.C., Athayde, S., Marques, E.E. et al. The invisibility of fisheries in the process of hydropower development across the Amazon. Ambio 47, 453–465 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-017-0994-7

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