Padrões de caça, pesca e uso de animais silvestres pela etnia Truká, no semiárido brasileiro

Abstract

The exploitation of natural resources by traditional communities is grounded in a set of knowledge, practices and human beliefs based on empirical experimentation of the closest environment that is part of the cultural traditions. This study adds to the recent researches about the indigenous peoples in Brazil and, especially, in the Northeast region, from oral memories of the indigenous Truká, who lives in the Brazilian Northeast semiarid and depend directly or indirectly of the natural resources of the environment in which they live, having an intimate association with the local wildlife, on which they developed indispensable knowledge for survivor of their culture. This study was developed in four indigenous settlements of the Truká people, located in the Lower-Middle São Francisco, in the cities of Sobradinho and Paulo Afonso, Bahia State, and in the cities of Cabrobó and Orocó, Pernambuco State. The indigenous people Truká has its original territory in the Assunção Island, Cabrobó`s city. Land and political conflicts led many families out of its original territory searching for new spaces. Thus, the settlements of Orocó, Paulo Afonso and Sobradinho arose. The migration process involves the adaptation to the news environment occupied, including the way to use the biodiversity available. This way, this study aimed to characterize the hunting activities, and to analyze the use of wild animals from the cultural practices of the Truká indigenous, investigate the influence of the migration process on medicinal use of wildlife, based on the hypothesis that the medicinal use of wildlife by different occupational center is influenced by new occupied environments, and to record the wealth of species caught, their uses, fishing techniques used, the ecological knowledge on these and the indigenous perception in relation to environmental impacts that influence the local fishery. The information on knowledge and local use of the wildlife resources were obtained through semi-structured questionnaires, complemented by free interviews and informal conversations. The data were collected in monthly visits lasting three days in each settlement, from February 2013 to December 2014. The four settlements of the indigenous people Truká share several knowledge on wildlife and its use, important components of the livelihood strategies of this people, among them the hunting and the fishing that remain as cultural traits of the ethnic group and are transmitted from one generation to another through orality. Our results also reveal that zootherapy practices among the Truká people persist as alternative therapy in all settlements investigated; however, each settlement has an idiosyncratic knowledge on the medicinal animals, which certainly is influenced by physical environment, by contact with other cultures and by maintenance or reduction of the contact with the Main Settlement of Cabrobó, place of origin of this people. The understanding of the local cultural practices that involve the wildlife resources and the conservation consequences of such activities on local biodiversity are essential for implementation of conservation strategies and handling actions truly effective and participatory, mainly focused on most exploited species, besides to contribute for an understanding of the wildlife usage modes by human people of the Northeast semiarid.