As well as possible contaminations by the oil industry, the bay is also threatened by city pollution . The metropolis discharges 17 tons of untreated domestic sewage per second and many tons of heavy metals per year into the bay . According to recent studies by the State University of Rio (UERJ), the water of the bay presents a high concentration of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs). The recent-discovered micro pollutants seem to be able to interfere with the endocrine system, causing consequences such as the decrease in hatching percentage of fish and turtle egg and the feminization of male fish. In humans, micro pollutants effects include lowering reproductive capacity, and increasing breast, testis and prostate cancer.
These attacks on ecosystem are even more aggressive due to the vacuum of institutional territory control and due to the toxic waste criminal business, which is dominated by drug traffickers and militias.
In the last four years, I’ve been investigating how these social and economical issues have changes and affected the artisanal fishermen community of Guanabara Bay. By the end of 2020, I intend to finalize a thorough and convincing visual statement to raise awareness on one of the many contemporary environmental drama, which is clearly part of the global debate on food safety.
As stated by Food and Agriculture Organization recently in one of its international resolution, artisanal fishery presents more than 90% of the world’s extractive fishing. Protecting small fishing communities has a huge social and environmental priority, as it means protecting those habitats whose biodiversity is key to guarantee the alimentary balance of our planet.