150 years of anthropogenic impact on coastal and ocean ecosystems in Brazil revealed by historical newspapers
Sandoval Gallardo, Santiago (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Fossile, Thiago (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Prehistòria)
Firme Herbst, Dannieli (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Begossi, Alpina (Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas em Alimentação (Brazil))
Silva, Luiz Geraldo (Universidade Federal do Paraná. Department of History (Brazil))
Colonese, Andre Carlo (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)

Date:	2021
Abstract:	Human impact on coastal ecosystems is one of the greatest environmental threats of our times. An understanding of the scale and magnitude of species and habitat degradation requires a long-term perspective that incorporates historical information from a range of sources, including local newspapers. Here we provide a novel contribution to the historical ecology of marine organisms along the Brazilian coast by exploring evidence of anthropogenic impacts in digitized historical newspapers spanning 167 years, available from the Brazilian Digital Newspapers and Periodicals Library. Using the keyword pesca we analyzed over seven thousand matches published in 26 newspapers between 1849 and 2016 in the state of Santa Catarina, one of the largest fish producing territories in Brazil. We found evidence of anthropogenic impacts involving overfishing and bycatch as early as the 19th century, well before the commencement of scientific studies and collection of fisheries landing data in the region. Impacts were exacerbated by the expansion of commercial fishing beginning in 1930, a process that seemingly increased competition for resources, while from 1980 onward anthropogenic impacts were mostly reported in relation to habitat degradation due to urbanization (including tourism) and industrialization. The results reveal that historical newspapers are valuable sources of information on local stakeholder perceptions of environmental and resource changes, and thus can provide a deeper temporal perspective to studies involving local, traditional-citizen knowledge in conservation and management actions.
Grants:	European Commission 817911 Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CEX2019-000940-M
Note:	Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UAB
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Atlantic forest coast of Brazil ; Historical newspapers ; Coastal fisheries ; Human impact ; Marine conservation
Published in:	Ocean and coastal management, Vol. 209 (August 2021) , art. 105662, ISSN 0964-5691

DOI: 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2021.105662

10 p, 4.1 MB

Supplementary material 33.4 KB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
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