Ostreicultores e ostreicultura: a sustentabilidade de sistemas produtivos nas zonas costeiras da Paraíba e de Santa Catarina

Abstract

The finding of environmental and sanitary problems involving oyster farming in Brazil motivated the present research, due to the environmental impacts of this activity that can result in contamination of oysters, compromising the health of the consumers, hence the need for control over water quality with improvement cultivation techniques and legislation. The objective of this study was to characterize the productive systems of oysters on the coast of Paraíba (PB) and Florianópolis (SC), as well as its relation with environmental, social and economic sustainability and the sanitary quality of the oyster, through a sustainability index of oyster farming. The methodology used to determine the profile of oyster farmers was semi-structured interviews. The methodology proposed by APHA (Clesceri et al., 1998) was used for water quality and microbiological analyses and Pereira (2012) was used to assess the sustainability indicators. As a result of the research, it was found that most oyster farmers in Paraiba have a low level of education, while in SC most have a higher level. In PB, the oldest oyster farmer has worked with oysters for 12 years, but most of them have been working for 7 years; in SC, oyster farmers from the communities surveyed have been working in cultivation for more than 14 years. The cultivation system adopted in BP is that of fattening native oysters in a fixed system; of the table or suspended type, being carried out in the mangrove and the oysters are removed directly from the natural banks. Management usually takes place every two months, and there is no system for purifying the oysters, nor legalization of the activity, and cultivation is done in an artisan way. In SC, oysters are cultivated in the sea, with exotic species and there are two cultivation systems; the suspended-fixed type and the long-line type with the use of lanterns. The oyster seed is obtained from the laboratory and the management is carried out with strict frequency. In the North Bay (SC) the production is small-scale and artisanal and most producers do not have a sanitary inspection seal. In Baía Sul (SC), the majority of producers are medium-sized companies that sell oysters with a municipal or federal inspection seal to other states. Regarding the levels of the water quality parameters of the crops in the PB, it was verified that in the majority of the months they were adequate for the production, but in relation to the microbiological data, thermotolerant coliforms presented high levels in all the cultures in the majority of the months, according to CONAMA and OMS legislation, and presence of Salmonella in 6 months of analysis. The data of thermo-tolerant coliforms for SC were secondary and only Ribeirão da Ilha presented levels above those permitted by legislation. In this work, a sustainability index was created for oyster farming with environmental, social and economic dimensions to evaluate the communities surveyed. Porto Novo and Porto de Marcação were classified with Regular sustainability, Santo Antônio de Lisboa and Sambaqui with Good and Ribeirão da Ilha with Very Good.