Empowerment of the fishing community of Sesimbra through a participatory process: MARGov – collaborative governance in marine protected areas

Sá, Rita de Sousa Braga e

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/8986

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Authors

Sá, Rita de Sousa Braga e

Advisor(s)

Castro, Margarida

Davis, Anthony

Vasconcelos, Lia

Abstract(s)

Sesimbra is a community established in the largest valley of the Arrábida coast. It is deeply connected to the sea through fishing, shipbuilding, sailors which contributed to the Portuguese expansion (XV and XVI centuries), as well as being an important maritime route and a trade point. More recently tourism became an important activity. During the 40’s (XX century) the pressures for development led to the creation of a legal framework aimed at the protection of the Arrábida coast. The Arrábida Reserve was created in 1971 (became Arrábida Natural Park in 1976). In 1998 the Luiz Saldanha Marine Park (LSMP), the marine section of the Arrábida Natural Park, was created, and in 2005, Marine Protected Area was implemented. The restrictions imposed to fishing and the top-down approached used, generated many protests and opposition within the Sesimbra fishing community. In response to these conflicts, in 2009, the Project MARGov - Collaborative Governance for Marine Protected Areas, started its activity to create platforms to involve the population in a participatory process aiming at community empowerment. To achieve this objective, the procedure followed was: (1) identification of the fishing community perception about the LSMP, (2) analyze of the information obtained through cross checking with the existence data, and (3) integration of all these components in the participatory process (PP) of the MARGov Project to create Empowerment. Through the methodology of the PP, it was possible to deconstruct the conflict and find common interests to achieve collaborative solutions and build intellectual, social and political capital while increasing community knowledge. The importance of all types of knowledge (empirical/traditional as well as scientific) was demonstrated to be valuable in building of the PP. The importance of a maritime culture for Sesimbra´s identity and a strong man-nature relationship can be key factors to achieve successful socio-cultural results in nature conservation.