Habits and customs of crab catchers in southern Bahia, Brazil.

Background: Brazilian mangrove forests are widely distributed along the coast and exploited by groups of people with customs and habits as diverse as the biology of the mangrove ecosystems. This study identifies different methods of extracting crabs that inhabit the mangrove belts; some of these activities, such as catching individual crabs by hand, are aimed at maintaining natural stocks of this species in Mucuri (south Bahia), Brazil.

Methods: In the studied community, illegal hunting activities that violate Brazilian legislation limiting the use of tangle-netting in mangrove ecosystem were observed.