Hunger and food contamination in small-scale fishing communities affected by the oil spill off the Brazilian coast

Bibliographic Data

ID23309162
AuthorsTainah Silva Santos (0000-0001-6847-0963, Universidade Federal da Bahia), Kênya Lima De Araújo (0000-0001-9913-7485, Universidade Federal do Tocantins), Maria Do Carmo Soares De Freitas (0000-0002-8310-0933, Universidade Federal da Bahia), Ana Angélica Martins da Trindade (0000-0002-9743-0212, Universidade Federal da Bahia), Monica Angelim Gomes De Lima (0000-0003-3364-8439, Universidade Federal da Bahia), Paulo Gilvane Lopes Pena (0000-0001-9653-5509, Universidade Federal da Bahia)
Year2026
Volume35
Issue1
Publication date2026-01-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSaúde e Sociedade (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0104-1290 • E-ISSN: 1984-0470
PublisherFapUNIFESP (SciELO) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1590/s0104-12902026250270en
OpenAlexW7171423714
SciELOS0104-12902026000100616
LanguagePT
References cited15

This study aimed to understand the experience of hunger among small-scale fishermen and shellfish gatherers in Bahia, Brazil, affected by the oil spill off the Brazilian coast in 2019. This analytical-descriptive study with a qualitative approach analyzed 10 individual interviews conducted in October 2021 with small-scale fisherwomen and shellfish gatherers in light of Hans-Georg Gadamer’s (2015) hermeneutic perspective. Categories of analysis emerged that addressed the individual and collective experience of living and working in an environment contaminated by oil and the feelings of fear and doubt arising from the experience of hunger in everyday life, with the consumption of fish and shellfish that taste and smell like oil. This study breaks new ground by proposing an analysis of hunger in the context of this disaster and reinforces the voice and struggle of female fishing workers who felt mobilized to speak out about the right to eat uncontaminated food and have a dignified living and working environment. It also results in reflections on the rapprochement between the ethnographic approach to hunger and ethnotoxicology in situations of major disasters, the understanding of which becomes necessary to overcome the inertia of the state and the lack of protective public policies, especially with the increase in environmental disasters on a larger scale.

Artisanal fishing · Context (archaeology) · Ethnography · Feeling · Fish <Actinopterygii> · Fishing · Oil spill · Indigenous Health and Education · Oil Spill Detection and Mitigation · Risk Perception and Management

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access