Fish Flows and Transformations: Coastal Livelihood Adaptation through the Lens of Design Ethnobiology

The Atlantic Forest Coast of Brazil and its rural inhabitants have experienced multiple economic cycles that have changed their ecosystems and the ways they interact with them. Fish has been at the centre of many of these changes. Using the case of the Ponta Negra coastal village, we employ a design ethnobiology lens to examine how fish flows and transformations, including associated knowledges and practices, have adapted to the vagaries of the regional fishing economy. We place special emphasis on the role of fish as a key material in the economic transition from fishing to tourism. This story allows us to consider the role of individual creativity as well as trade networks and environmental policy, to enable and hinder the sustainability of human and environment relations and the knowledges associated with them within a changing landscape.