AREMAC is an entity created with the primary mission of representing the traditional fishing community of the municipality of Arraial do Cabo, based on the establishment of a Protected Area, conceived precisely to maintain the tradition of this sustainable fishery and to protect the fishing stocks inside the Marine Reserve. AREMAC’s objectives are to protect, preserve and conserve traditional culture and the small-scale fishing activity, keeping its knowledge, practices, and tradition alive. Therefore, the entity has absolute synergy with the objective of this Call for Project no. 14/2022, at a time when artisanal fisherfolk are struggling to maintain their work and living spaces. 

Traditional small and medium-sized fishing vessels currently suffer from a lack of maintenance and care. The lack of professionals and the absence of local labor further escalate the maintenance costs of these vessels. With the implementation of this project, both the canoes and the motorized boats will be renovated, ensuring that they continue fishing, decorating, and brightening the beaches and seas of the municipality with vibrant colors. 

By perpetuating the life of these vessels and involving the youngest in the art of artisanal naval carpentry, the project will generate employment and income in the municipality since many professionals, capable of this service, come from elsewhere. In addition to making the necessary adaptations to work in CBT, which is a new way of approaching tourism in the municipality, in contrast to what is currently practiced, i.e., mass tourism. To this end, the project provides for the implementation of learning workshops such as: 1) Beach Canoe Refurbishment (learn about naval carpentry techniques); 2) Construction of Caicos (initiation to the maritime mentality for the leisure of young sport and professional fishers); 3) Renovations, Repairs, Painting and Caulking; 4) Handicrafts with Recycled Wood: Construction of Miniatures of: fishing boats, wooden needles for net repairs, unused fishing net bags, finished with recycled wood from century-old canoes, adding value to handicrafts by providing labels with information about the material used and where it was taken from. 

The term and implementation of the project will be 18 months where we will have 42 renovated boats, 2 ramps to house the canoes, two trailers for grounding small boats, available to serve those that need maintenance, acquisition of a medium-sized tractor, construction and renovation of 20 caicos [fishing boats], construction and renovation of the Mariculture raft with the technological innovations implemented, placement of a retractable awning providing safety and protection to carpentry professionals and workshop participants. Installation of an awning for the training on crafts at the ARMAC headquarters.