2023-09-26 14:44:00
The Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, André de Paula, stated that the problem of fish contamination by mercury will receive attention from the federal government to ensure that fishermen are not unable to carry out their activities. The statement was given this Monday (25/09), during a meeting with fishing entities in Boa Vista, Roraima.
In May this year, a study showed that in six states in the Amazon, fish present levels of mercury contamination above the acceptable limit. The technical note signed by the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), Fiocruz, UFOPA, Greenpeace Brasil, Iepé and WWF-Brasil, points out that Roraima is the state with the most critical situation, with 40% of fish with mercury above the recommended limit.
“It is clear that issues like these need to go through technical bodies until we can move forward, but I want to ensure that any type of damage to the normal activity of fishermen, which results in the impossibility of maintaining work, will be the subject of government attention – with support from the least during the period that this impossibility occurs”, he told ISA.
A copy of the study and a letter prepared by the Federation of Fishermen and Fish Farmers Unions of the State of Roraima (Fesper) were delivered to the minister. “We ask the minister and President Lula to take urgent measures in order to protect the income and lives of fishermen and the entire population of Roraima”, says an excerpt from the letter.
De Paula also met with the institutions that carried out the study. He also visited the fishing and aquaculture laboratory of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), where he delivered boats and fishing kits to Iracema and visited the fishing community in the municipality.
During the meeting with fishing workers, de Paula was accompanied by the governor of Roraima, Antônio Denarium (PL), and federal deputies Zé Haroldo Cathedral (PSD), Maria Helena Teixeira Lima (MDB) and Albuquerque (Republicans)
The president of Fesper, Leonel Pereira, explained that consumers have become more suspicious about buying and consuming fish, which consequently affects the income of fishermen in the state.
“The ideal is already being done, which is the removal of illegal miners. We hope that this action will be implemented to return to normality, but work will also be needed to clean the rivers or something similar. There is a great need for action from public authorities to carry out these actions,” he stated.
The removal of miners is part of a coordinated action by the federal government that began in January this year. The first step was to act on the health of the Yanomami people directly affected by illegal mining, followed by an air blockade, a request for the invaders to leave spontaneously and later operations to remove and destroy machinery.
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