Abstract

In 2002, a group of scientists and NGOs persuaded the Brazilian Institute of Environment to approve a law which established a five year moratorium on goliath grouper Epinephelus itajara capture and commercialization. Since that year the Meros do Brasil Project has significantly increased awareness about conservation of marine species and ecosystems in Santa Catarina state. Recently funded by Petrobras Ambiental, this project is coordinated by NGO ECOMAR, Instituto Recifes Costeiros - IRCOS, VIDAGUA Institute/SP and University of Itajaí - UNIVALI. It is a national initiative that will promote E. itajara conservation and its inhabiting essential ecosystems such as mangroves, coral reefs and rocky shores. The project will promote research, management and environmental education actions in locations spread along more than 3,000 km of the Brazilian coast. The main targets will be: 1) Scientific Research - including studies on fisheries, population biology, ecology and genetics. Local Ecological Knowledge will be used as an important tool on gathering information across the vast Brazilian coast, considering that groupers and snappers have been targeted by local communities for generations and thus are likely to be an integral part of their traditional knowledge; 2) Management and conservation - link between the obtained results and their application on species conservation . A re-assessment of the conservation status of the species according to the criteria established by IUCN will be conducted, as well as two expert evaluation and discussion workshops; 3) Environment education and dissemination; 4) Ecotourism.

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