.

• Autor(a) principal: Luna, Fábia de Oliveira
• Data de Publicação: 2008
• Outros Autores: Araújo, Janaina Pauline de, Lima, Régis Pinto de, Pessanha, Marisol Menezes, Soavinski, Ricardo José, Passavante, José Zanon de Oliveira
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Biotemas (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/biotemas/article/view/2175-7925.2008v21n1p115

Capture and utilization of the Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus) on the northern Brazilian coast. The Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus) is now considered to be the most endangered aquatic mammal of Brazil. During 1992 and 1993, we surveyed 3000km of the coastal area of the Maranhão (MA), Pará (PA) and Amapá (AP) states where we visited 145 localities and performed 262 interviews aiming to identify the hunting pressure on the species, and how the population actually uses the manatees hunted on the Brazilian north coast. The people interviewed were involved in fi shing activities, pre- ferably those who hunted manatees. Catches followed by intentional killing  were responsible for 94.07% of the cases of mortality, while ani- mals stranded on the beach represented 5.93% of the cases. Intentional capture was the strongest factor in the manatee mortality, and hunting with a harpoon occurred in 86.38% of catches. After capture, the animals were used for the hunter’s subsistence (63.83%) and human consumption and trading (30.64%), and the animals’ parts were used for diverse pur- poses (medicine, fetish and santerias). It was considered that a proper understanding of the communities’ customs concerning the animals was important for any proposal of conservation strategies.