The Committee for Agriculture, Livestock, Supply and Rural Development rejected, on Wednesday, November 5, the Bill 3048/08, proposed by Deputy Sandes Júnior (PP-GO), which intends to prohibit professional fishing in water courses that are less than 50 meters wide.

The rapporteur, Deputy Edio Lopes (PMDB-RR), noted that there are sufficient mechanisms that ensure environmental protection and sustainability, and that the proposal harms the fishing and aquiculture industry.

"About half a million professional fishermen are currently exerting their activity, and that industry supports approximately 3.5 million of unemployed Brazilians. Fishing and aquiculture have a great expansion possibility, which will result in economic development, employment and food safety”, he highlighted.

Lopes also stated that the subject does not take into account the seasonality of many Brazilian Rivers, as in Amazonia, in Pantanal, in the semi-arid region and in other biomes.

The Brazilian Institute of Environment and Natural Renewable Resources (Ibama) established rules that currently forbid professional fishing of some species or in specific rivers or basins. The current legislation forbids this activity in delimited places and seasons and in places where fishing may hinder navigation; by means of dynamite and other regular explosives; or with substances that, in contact with water, may become explosive; with toxic substances and at less than 500 meters of sewage outlets.

Procedure
The Bill will be filed, since it had been given conclusive power and had already been rejected by the Committee for Environment and Sustainable Development, which reviewed its merit.

Report - Oscar Telles
Editing - Newton Araújo Jr./Rejane Xavier