People’s Fisheries Court and political reciprocities in fishing activities crisis situations

Abstract

The article focuses on the performance of the People’s Fisheries Court, which took place on January 14, 2020, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, revealing itself as an important regional strategy for mobilizing the professional category of artisanal fishermen in the negotiations and practices of political reciprocity around the struggle for rights in the fishing activity affected by the oil spill catastrophe in the Northeast, reaching the coast of the states of Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro in the Southeast of Brazil, between August 2019 and January 2020. The methodology used was participant observation in the systematic monitoring prior to the event with the groups of participants and organizers, continuing after the event. The article used a documentary and bibliographical review of the subject, bringing analytical reflections on performance, customary rights and rights under legislation, as well as the lack of justice in repairing violations of acquired and withdrawn rights. It concludes that the performance is symbolically effective in highlighting injustice in the face of the vulnerability of traditional fishing populations, proving to be important for the organization of the legal dispute that was later made official against the Federal Government, which was denounced for its negligence in responding to contain the oil and mitigating its impact on the communities that live off the sea and the coast.