Fishing reopened at the mouth of the Rio Doce ten years after the Mariana disaster
Interministerial ordinance reinstates rules and allows the activity between Aracruz and Linhares, in Espírito Santo, based on an Anvisa technical note.
Translated from the Portuguese original by the Panorama newsroom. Read in Portuguese
Summary written by the Panorama newsroom from the sources listed below. Facts are attributed to the original publications.
The federal government published an ordinance reopening fishing in the marine area at the mouth of the Rio Doce, in Espírito Santo, ten years after the rupture of the Fundão dam in Mariana (MG). The information comes from g1 Espírito Santo, October 27.
Fishing in the region had been banned since 2016 by court order, motivated by contamination risks after the disaster. The new Interministerial Ordinance MPA/MMA No. 75 reinstates the rules that applied before the ban, with provisions on fishing methods, equipment, permitted species and closed seasons.
The area covered runs from Aracruz to Linhares, down to 20 meters deep. The ordinance also provides for monitoring of fishing activity, so that the resumption is closely followed by the responsible agencies.
In practice, with the publication of the rule, the rules that governed fishing before the ban apply again to those who work in the region, ending a restriction that lasted a decade.
Experts consulted by g1 explain that the reopening was based on a technical note from the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa). The document indicated that consuming fish from the region is safe, based on monitoring data collected by the Federal University of Espírito Santo (Ufes).