The Algodoal-Maiandeua Environmental Protection Area ( pt, Área de Proteção Ambiental de Algodoal-Maiandeua) is an environmental protection area in the state of

Pará Pará is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian state) ...

, Brazil. It protects two coastal islands with beaches, dunes, mangroves and wetlands that are home to fishing people and are popular with tourists.

Location

The Algodoal-Maiandeua Environmental Protection Area is in the municipality of

Maracanã, Pará Maracanã, Pará is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the states of Brazil, state of Pará in the Northern Region, Brazil, Northern region of Brazil. The municipality contains the lower reaches of the Maracanã River (Pará), Maracanã R ...

. It is on the northeast coast of Pará in the Salgado microregion. The Atlantic Ocean is to the north and the Mocooca channel to the south. The Maracanã River estuary is to the east and the

Marapanim River The Marapanim River ( pt, Rio Marapanim) is a river of the state of Pará, Brazil. Course The Marapanim River rises in the municipality of São Francisco do Pará. It flows in a generally north direction, and enters the Atlantic Ocean just past M ...

estuary to the west. The APA is bounded to the south by the

Maracanã Marine Extractive Reserve The Maracanã Marine Extractive Reserve ( pt, Reserva Extrativista Marinha do Maracanã) is a coastal marine extractive reserve in the state of Pará, Brazil. It protects an area of mangroves, and allows the local population to make sustainable use ...

. The Mestre Lucindo Marine Extractive Reserve is opposite the APA to the west. The APA has an area of about and consists of two islands separated by an intermittent tidal channel called the ''Furo Velho''. Algodoal Island has and contains Algodoal village, Princesa Beach, Farol Beach and areas of mangroves, restingas and dunes. The island and the largest village are named "Algodoal" after a native plant, the ''algodão de seda''. Maiandeua island has and holds the villages of Fortalezinha, Mocooca and Camboinha, the localities of Camaleão, Passagem and Pedra Chorona, and beaches, mangroves and terra firme areas with vegetation. The villages are separated by areas of mangroves and tidal channels. The village of Algodoal can be reached by boat from the port of Marudá, a journey of about 40 minutes depending on the tide. A boat from the municipality of Maracanã can cross the Mocooca channel to the village of Mocooca in 5 minutes.

History

Fishermen from whom the present inhabitants are descended seem to have first moved to the island of Algodoal in the 1920s. The Algodoal-Maiandeua Environmental Protection Area was created by law 5.621 of 27 November 1990, covering the islands of Algodoal with and Maiandeua with , making a total of . The management council was created by decree 291 of 6 June 2006. On 1 June 2007 regulations were passed that prohibited use of motor vehicles in the APA. Preparation of a management plan was approved on 21 September 2011. The management plan was published on 31 December 2012, although it was not made official through an ordinance.

Environment

The APA is in the

Amazon biome The Amazon biome ( pt, Bioma Amazônia) contains the Amazon rainforest, an area of tropical rainforest, and other ecoregions that cover most of the Amazon basin and some adjacent areas to the north and east. The biome contains blackwater and white ...

. The climate is hot and humid, with average annual temperature of , and average monthly temperatures ranging from . There is most rain from January to March, and a dry season from September to December. The island has beaches, mangroves, freshwater lakes, dunes and streams. Vegetation is typical of

restinga Restingas () are a distinct type of coastal tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest in eastern Brazil. They form on sandy, acidic, and nutrient-poor soils, and are characterized by medium-sized trees and shrubs adapted to the drier and nut ...

, with great variety of species. The mangroves act as nurseries for fish, mussels, shrimps, oysters, turtles, crabs and other marine species. In the dunes and surroundings there are typical fruits such as ajuru, cashew, coconut, murucí, carambola and mango. Common bird species include guará, garça, pavão, socó, taquerê, gavião caranguejeiro, caracaraí, cebinho do mangue,

yellow-crowned night heron The yellow-crowned night heron (''Nyctanassa violacea''), is one of two species of night herons found in the Americas, the other one being the black-crowned night heron. It is known as the ''bihoreau violacé'' in French and the ''pedrete corona ...

, ''

Platalea ajaja The roseate spoonbill (''Platalea ajaja'') is a gregarious wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family, Threskiornithidae. It is a resident breeder in both South and North America. Taxonomy The roseate spoonbill is sometimes placed in its own ...

'',

garganey The garganey (''Spatula querquedula'') is a small dabbling duck. It breeds in much of Europe and across the Palearctic, but is strictly migratory, with the entire population moving to southern Africa, India (in particular Santragachi), Banglades ...

parrot Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoid ...

collared plover The collared plover (''Charadrius collaris'') is a small shorebird in the plover family, Charadriidae. It lives along coasts and riverbanks of the tropical to temperate Americas, from central Mexico south to Chile and Argentina. This small plove ...

sanderling The sanderling (''Calidris alba'') is a small wading bird. The name derives from Old English ''sand-yrðling'', "sand-ploughman". The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloure ...

Hudsonian whimbrel The Hudsonian whimbrel (''Numenius hudsonicus'') is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across much of subarctic North America. This species and the Eurasian whimbrel have recentl ...

and

ruddy turnstone The ruddy turnstone (''Arenaria interpres'') is a small cosmopolitan wading bird, one of two species of turnstone in the genus ''Arenaria''. It is now classified in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae but was formerly sometimes placed in the plov ...

. Common fish include pescada amarela, xaréu, tainha, anchova, corvina, gó, cação, mero, '' Aspistor luniscutis'', dourada, pratiqueira, serra and robalo. Molluscs and crustaceans include oysters, mussels, turu, sururu, shrimp and crabs. Other fauna include sloths, quatis, anteaters, foxes, gatos maracajá, chameleons, mucuras, various species of monkey, racoons, alligators, jabutis and tartarugas.

Tourism

The island receives large numbers of tourists, including Brazilian and foreign visitors, who stay in inns and hotels. The residents organize tours and fishing trips. The APA has high tourism potential due to its scenic beauty and variety of ecosystems, beaches, dunes, cliffs, mangroves and trails linking the villages. They villagers sell local handicrafts produced from the regional flora, and practice traditional ways of making cassava flour, music, the carimbó praiano dance, local cooking and

artisanal fishing Artisanal fishing (or traditional/subsistence fishing) consists of various small-scale, low-technology, low-capital, fishing practices undertaken by individual fishing households (as opposed to commercial fishing). Many of these households are o ...

Notes

Sources