Janete makes her living in the mud. She’s a marisqueira—a female shellfish collector who gleans oysters from the mangrove banks of Maragogipe, Brazil. It’s tough work, and hard on the body: Janete would wade through polluted water with feet wrapped in old jeans, amassing cuts from shells and garbage. She would wake up sore from crouching in the mangroves, where she sifted for oysters through thick, dark mud and gnarly roots. And at the end of the day, she and her colleagues weren’t earning what they deserved.
“This is what we live off, and this is how we want to continue living. We don’t want to leave our profession. We want to sell this shellfish for a better price, to provide better living conditions to ourselves and our family.”
The marisqueiras had long collected wild oysters, with many learning the trade by watching their mothers. Though their traditional harvesting methods hadn’t changed, the health and prevalence of Maragogipe’s mangroves were in decline—and with them, the oysters. Development activity and over-extraction of resources were likely to blame.
But their problems didn’t stop there: for years, the women also dealt with grueling working conditions, a lack of pride in their profession, and stifled access to local markets.
Janete and Maragogipe’s 30 marisqueiras knew they had to do something. From 2014-2017, Rare helped the marisqueiras launch and run a Pride campaign to spearhead more sustainable oyster management. They promoted conservation of the mangroves and embraced their occupation. The marisqueiras knocked on doors and attended council meetings; they led monthly meetings and activities with the community; they practiced more sustainable techniques to protect the species’ breeding cycle; they organized field trips to learn more about oyster farming; and they invited researchers to visit the mangroves to see conditions first-hand.