Z-13 fishing colony, in Copacabana, wants to renew itself – 12/24/2023 – Market

A woman with Asian features awaits the arrival of a small boat leaving the sea on Copacabana beach, south of Rio de Janeiro. Soon she is spotted by one of the fishermen on the boat.

Before setting foot in the sand, the man announces, shouting and with a dose of exaggeration, the variety of fish he managed to catch: “I have sea bass here, I have sea bass here. I have catfish here, ma’am. I have everything here, ma’am” .

The scene, recorded on a gray morning, illustrates part of the routine at the Z-13 fishing colony, whose facilities are next to the Copacabana Fort.

It is there, on the sand of one of the most famous beaches in the world, that workers linked to the association leave their small boats loaded with nets and other equipment.

Then, they go to sell the fish in a tent with 20 stalls a few meters away, next to the neighborhood’s promenade. Fishermen also make deliveries to restaurants and other customers in the region.

Z-13 turned one hundred years old in June, but those who make a living from artisanal fishing see challenges in maintaining the activity in the future, including the need to renew the workforce by attracting young people.

“It’s one of the biggest challenges. There is no colony without fishermen. Without renewing the human part, it ends up disappearing”, says José Manoel Pereira Rebouças, 64, president of Z-13.

Born in Ceará, Rebouças has been fishing since he was a teenager, has been going to the Copacabana colony for three decades and has two children who followed in his footsteps. The duo also works at Z-13.

To keep the association alive after the centenary and increase workers’ income, Rebouças defends the expansion of activities carried out at the site, from where it is possible to see the silhouette of Pão de Açúcar, another tourist attraction in Rio.

Recently, the colony hosted a training course for young fishermen. According to the president, the idea is to carry out new activities of this type. To this end, Z-13 studies partnerships with companies, organizations and the public sector.

Another plan, says Rebouças, is to invest in initiatives that encourage the production of handicrafts and even gastronomy in the colony. “What if the customer buys the fish here and wants to eat it straight away, while looking at Pão de Açúcar? There is also the issue of craftsmanship. Today we have to get on that agenda”, she says.

Rebouças was unable to stop for many minutes the morning he spoke to the Sheet. She walked from one place to another, helped fishermen arriving from the sea and acted as a receptionist, welcoming a group of children and teachers visiting Z-13.

From the group of young students, he heard questions like: “Do fish sleep? Do they live outside the water? Do mermaids exist?” Rebouças responded to the questions with good humor and gave a speech in defense of environmental conservation for children.

According to him, Z-13 currently has 20 boats, housing 40 to 50 fishermen, coming from communities such as Pavão-Pavãozinho, Rocinha and Vidigal. The number of workers, however, has already exceeded one hundred people, says the president.

There are no rich fisherman, says worker

Fabiano Soares, 48, from Rio de Janeiro, has been living off fishing for a year. Before going to Z-13, he taught stand up paddleboarding — a sport that can be practiced at sea.

“I started fishing and fell in love. You won’t see a rich fisherman on a boat, but I like it, it’s a cool vibe”, he says.

Soares usually goes fishing early, around 5am or 6am. Return from the sea around 8am. He also assesses that retaining young people challenges the maintenance of the colony.

“The biggest challenge is to continue, to get kids to start the activity. Fishing is for those who like it”, he says.

Also linked to Z-13, Eduardo Felipe da Silva Nora, 61, from Rio, has been fishing since childhood. Today, he uses a speedboat that differs from most of the small diesel-powered boats in the colony. The equipment, according to him, allows fishing 15 kilometers into the sea.

“In the past, young people would come with their father and join the fishing industry. Today, the majority get work that is risk-free. They don’t work Saturday and Sunday. They are even prejudiced against fishing,” says Nora.

In the fisherman’s view, the future of Z-13 depends on initiatives aimed at attracting more tourists to the location. “Fostering tourism is essential.”

Activity is among those that pay the least

In the second quarter of 2023, Brazil had almost 306.3 thousand workers employed as fishermen, according to a survey by economist Bruno Imaizumi, from LCA Consultores.

The analysis covers 427 occupations that appear in the Continuous Pnad (Continuous National Household Sample Survey), published by IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics).

Fishermen had the fourth lowest income on this list. In the second quarter of this year, the average income from work in the category was estimated at R$736 per month. The amount is equivalent to less than one minimum wage (currently R$1,320).

The average income of fishermen only exceeded the earnings of wood treatment and preparation workers (R$602), water carriers and firewood collectors (R$588) and creative and interpretive artists not previously classified (R$509). The highest income in the survey was that of the judges: R$24,700.

Workers described as aquaculture and fishing production managers had an average income of R$7,924 per month in the same period. The category had 2,396 employed people in the second quarter.

The analysis also counts 20,600 basic hunting, fishing and aquaculture workers in the country. In this group, the average income was R$1,042 per month. Elementary workers can involve different functions within an economic sector.