Management of Wildlife from the Changes in the Azorean Way of Life in a Coastal Lagoon of the South of Brazil (1957-2004)

Abstract

This article provides subsidies for policies in the
treatment of hunting, through an analysis of the changes in the Azorean ways of life and in the institutions
of appropriation and use of wildlife resources in the Lagoa de Ibiraquera Landscape (LIL, State of Santa
Catarina) , from the 50's to 2004. The data was collected and analyzed by spatial variables used to show
the changes in the landscape, by inventories (avifauna and mastofauna) and interviews (open and semi
structured). Hunting practices were recorded for 68 extant and extinct LIL wildlife species, including 46
birds, 19 medium and large mammals and 3 reptiles. These practices were correlated with perceptions and with local and legal norms of wildlife management. Colonized in 1880, until the 50's, most of the LIL's
hunting had already been disappeared, leaving only species of general habits. Until the late 70's, hunting was
primarily responsible for the local extinction of three medium-sized mammal species when the incentives,
rules and practices of fishermen-farmers against wildlife has begun to legitimize the prohibition of hunting
for greater part of the species. Three factors explain the decrease in hunting: (i) increase of the urbanized
area and reduction of the agricultural area; (ii) private appropriation and enclosure of the spaces and; (iii)
greater supervision of the state. We suggest that the historical and integrated analysis of changes in hunting
and habitats of game species can elicit creative and participatory ways of managing wildlife with shared
responsibilities and benefits between state and civil society.