The fishing community of Barra do Mamanguape on Brazil’s northeastern coast used to be a hunting site for manatees. But today, the villagers have turned to ecotourism and are now protecting the manatees, Mongabay’s video team reported in May. The village estuary, where river meets the sea, has warm, calm waters, perfect habitat for manatees. During Brazil’s colonization, manatees were considered a delicacy, with the meat eaten by local fishers and the skin and oil exported to Europe. “What I heard is that its meat was similar to pork,” Marinalva Brito, a local fisher and business owner, told Mongabay. Initially scientists knew very little about manatees. By the time they’d assessed their populations, the species was considered critically endangered, prompting conservation efforts, including the founding in 2013 of the nonprofit Viva o Peixe-Boi Marinho (Long Live the Sea Manatee). The group engaged with local fishers to learn from them and raise awareness about conservation. “They knew a lot. And from that, we had lectures, there were face-to-face conversations, there were experiences of participating in fishing activities with them,” João Carlos Borges, coordinator of Viva o Peixe-Boi Marinho, told Mongabay. With this sustained community outreach, local attitudes began to change. Instead of killing stranded manatees for food, villagers were now reporting them for rescue. “My grandparents were people who ate manatees, and today we have a different experience,” ecologist Sebastião dos Santos told Mongabay. “We learned that, within the communities, the manatee is much more important alive, contributing to generate income,…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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