Brazil's coastal forests on the front line of climate change - in photos

[Judi Lynn]

Rising water levels are affecting the lives of both people and the marine animals living on the Caratingui river

Nacho Doce
1 hour ago

Fishermen like Jose da Cruz have made their living for decades hunting for crabs among Brazil’s vast coastal mangrove forests, dense thickets of twisted plants in deep black mud that grow where fresh-water rivers meet the brackish Atlantic.

Cruz, who is known by the nickname Vampire because of his distinctive teeth, doesn’t use a rod and reel or a net. Instead he parks his 2ft-wide boat at the shore of the Caratingui river and wends his way on foot through the tangle of mangroves to dig out crabs with his hands from the dark muck.

He slowly begins to blend into his surroundings as he becomes increasingly caked in mud, sometimes lying flat to submerge his arm in search of crabs. He pulls out two of the spikey-legged creatures, larger than his hands.

The four or five dozen he captures in a day will earn Cruz about 200 reais (£60) a week, enough to get by, he says.

More:
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/photography/brazil-climate-change-forests-fishing-environment-damage-crabs-mangrove-a8938206.html