Neo-extractivism and the oil spill disaster-crime in Brazil: implications for the health of fishing communities

Medeiros, Ana Catarina Leite Véras; Santos, Mariana Olívia Santana dos; Gonçalves, José Erivaldo; Silva, Evelyn Siqueira da; Machado, Rafaella Miranda; Gurgel, Idê Gomes Dantas

doi:10.1590/1413-81232026319.17302025

Abstract

The objective was to analyze the implications of the oil spill crime disaster, resulting from the neo-extractivist development model in Latin America, on the social determination of the health of artisanal fishing communities on the coast of Pernambuco. This is a study based on the Social Reproduction of Health Matrix proposed by Samaja. Secondary and primary data were used, produced through interviews and an epidemiological survey with artisanal fishermen from the 16 municipalities on the coast of Pernambuco and interviews with municipal and state health managers in Pernambuco; those through documentary analysis of environmental legislation, open letters from scientific institutions, publications from social movements and government reports. The results indicated degradation of the coastal ecosystem, socioeconomic vulnerability, failures in the State’s response and effects on the health of artisanal fishermen who align themselves with the process of Latin American neo-extractivism. It is concluded that this disaster expresses socio-environmental conflicts and cultural rupture, reinforcing injustices and socio-environmental racism and posing the need for effective policies of surveillance, reparation and social protection.

Key words:
Petroleum Pollution; Vulnerable populations; Hunting; Social Determination of Health

Resumo

Objetivou-se analisar as implicações do desastre-crime do derramamento de petróleo, decorrente do modelo de desenvolvimento neoextrativista na América Latina, na determinação social da saúde de comunidades da pesca artesanal do litoral pernambucano. Trata-se de estudo fundamentado na Matriz da Reprodução Social da Saúde proposta por Samaja. Utilizou-se dados secundários e primários, estes produzidos por meio de entrevistas e inquérito epidemiológico com pescadores(as) artesanais dos 16 municípios do litoral pernambucano e entrevista com gestores municipais e estaduais de saúde de Pernambuco; aqueles por meio da análise documental de legislações ambientais, carta aberta de instituições científicas, publicações dos movimentos sociais e relatórios governamentais. Os resultados indicaram degradação do ecossistema costeiro, vulnerabilização socioeconômica, falhas na resposta do Estado e efeitos na saúde dos(as) pescadores(as) artesanais que se alinham ao processo de neoextrativismo Latino-Americano. Conclui-se que esse desastre expressa conflitos socioambientais e ruptura cultural, reforçando as injustiças e o racismo socioambiental e colocando a necessidade de políticas efetivas de vigilância, reparação e proteção social.

Palavras-chave:
Poluição por petróleo; Populações vulneráveis; Pesca; Determinação Social da Saúde

Resumen

El objetivo fue analizar las implicaciones del desastre criminal por derrame de petróleo, resultante del modelo de desarrollo neoextractivista en América Latina, en la determinación social de la salud de las comunidades pesqueras artesanales en la costa de Pernambuco. Es un estudio basado en la Matriz de Reproducción Social de la Salud propuesta por Samaja. Utilizaron datos secundarios y primarios, producidos a través de entrevistas y encuesta epidemiológica con pescadores artesanales de los 16 municipios de la costa de Pernambuco y entrevistas con gestores de salud municipales y estatales de Pernambuco; aquellas a través de análisis documentales de legislación ambiental, cartas abiertas de instituciones científicas, publicaciones de movimientos sociales e informes gubernamentales. Los resultados indicaron degradación del ecosistema costero, vulnerabilidad socioeconómica, fallas en la respuesta del Estado y afectaciones en la salud de los pescadores artesanales que se alinean con el proceso de neoextractivismo latinoamericano. Se concluye que este desastre expresa conflictos socioambientales y ruptura cultural, reforzando las injusticias y el racismo socioambiental y planteando la necesidad de políticas efectivas de vigilancia, reparación y protección social.

Palabras clave:
Contaminación por petróleo; Poblaciones vulnerables; Pesca; Determinación Social de la Salud

Introduction

The relationship between neo-extractivism and health is a relevant topic for Collective Health, especially in the context of technological disasters, whose structural drivers are linked to exploitative practices fueled by economic policies that degrade the environment and compromise the health of affected populations¹^,².

Neo-extractivism is understood through extractivism historical-structural reconfigurations and has acquired new dimensions aligned with a developmentalist political-economic model in which the State plays an active role, and that is mediated by the expansion of “commodities”³. In this context, the exploitation of natural assets expands and socioenvironmental injustice advances across territories, in a process of subsumption under political and economic directives for building a development model based on overexploitation⁴. These processes generate events of major magnitude that affect territories and communities, such as the oil disaster-crime that occurred on the Brazilian coast in 2019³, whose analysis requires considering the territorial, ecological, economic, and political dimensions of overexploitation at local, regional, national, and global scales³^,⁵.

The oil industry affects the environment and health by exploiting resources in a predatory manner. Local communities lose the conditions for their social reproduction, while transnational corporations profit, especially in the Global South, a context marked by inequalities and institutional fragility in which the society-nature metabolism is expressed⁶^-⁸. These effects are manifested as deterritorialization, socioenvironmental vulnerability, biodiversity loss, and disasters⁶^,⁹, whose recurrence reveals weak regulatory control and an inability to mitigate the impacts produced by large international corporations¹⁰^-¹².

More than ten major oil-related disasters in the oceans have been reported since 1970, making marine ecosystems and populations in the affected territories vulnerable¹. In 2019, Northeastern Brazil, Espírito Santo, and Rio de Janeiro experienced the largest oil spill by geographic extent in the South Atlantic¹², affecting coastal populations, especially artisanal fishing communities, with material, symbolic, ecological, and collective and individual health repercussions. This event constituted a socioenvironmental crime and, for some authors, has been called the oil spill disaster-crime¹³^-¹⁵.

Understanding the relationship between territorial impacts and the developmentalist model of overexploitation is essential in Collective health, in a context in which economic, political, territorial, and environmental processes produce socioenvironmental vulnerability and underlie the social determination of health¹⁶. Accordingly, this study aims to analyze the implications of the oil spill disaster-crime for the social determination of health among artisanal fishing communities on the coast of Pernambuco, considering the Latin American neo-extractivist model.

Methods

This study was grounded in the Social Reproduction of Health Matrix proposed by Samaja¹⁷ and adapted by Medeiros et al. ¹⁸, which analyzes the health-disease process in a broad, complex, and systematic way, considering subjects’ realities and their socio-ecosystem interactions from the perspective of Latin American critical epidemiology. Social reproduction encompasses social, political, economic, cultural, and environmental processes as health mediators organized in a hierarchical network¹⁸. The matrix allows us to examine the structural dynamics of the neo-extractivist model through five dimensions (ecological, political, technoeconomic, self-awareness and conduct, and biocommunal), while respecting movements of subsumption and relative autonomy to achieve a comprehensive understanding of life¹⁸.

The unit of analysis was the fishing territory of the Pernambuco coast, impacted by the 2019 oil disaster-crime and encompassing 16 municipalities (Cabo de Santo Agostinho, Tamandaré, Ipojuca, Sirinhaém, São José da Coroa Grande, Barreiros, Rio Formoso, Ilha de Itamaracá, Goiana, Itapissuma, Paulista, Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Recife, Olinda, Igarassu, Abreu e Lima), coordinated with the national macro context and its repercussions for the affected population of artisanal fishers (micro context).

Data were collected from September 2021 to May 2023 from primary and secondary sources. The latter included environmental legislation, letters from scientific institutions, publications from social movements, and government reports available online; these were analyzed documentarily using collective subject discourse (CSD)¹⁹. Key expressions were organized according to analytical categories built from Samaja’s matrix¹⁷ and adapted by Medeiros et al. ¹⁸. Primary data were produced using a mixed approach:

1) semi-structured individual interviews with 55 small-scale fishers and 16 municipal and state health managers in Pernambuco¹⁵. The analysis used collective subject discourse (CSD)¹⁹. The following analytical categories were used in the interviews with fishers: scarcity of seafood and mangrove resources due to pollution and the oil spill; landscape change; delayed provision of State aid; lack of guidance for volunteer work; need to stop working; material and financial losses; disrupted transmission of family knowledge; health impacts; volunteer work; contact with oil; and food insecurity. With managers, the analytical categories were: managers’ perception of the impacts of the disaster-crime; actions developed in the disaster-crime risk management process by the health sector; difficulties faced in the disaster mitigation process; evaluation of management actions during the disaster-crime; and preparedness for future disasters.

2) An epidemiological survey conducted with 1,259 small-scale fishers²⁰^,²¹. Survey data were analyzed using relative frequencies for the following variables: impact on fishery product catch volume; mobilization of federated entities; social mobilization of volunteers; participation in oil removal activities; oil removal training; use of personal protective equipment (PPE) during removal; reparation for damage caused to life; receipt of staple food baskets; impact on quality of life; suspension and consumption of fishery products during or after the disaster; discarding fishery products that had been caught; oil-contaminated work instruments; contact with oil during fishing work or oil removal.

After these stages, data were analyzed using the Social Reproduction of Health Matrix, as shown in Chart 1.

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Chart 1
Aspects considered in the analysis of the social determinants of health in artisanal fishing communities on the coast of Pernambuco and data collection source.

Results

The problems expressed in the dimensions of social reproduction play a fundamental role in the reality of communities, revealing the simultaneously autonomous and interdependent movement within the territories; they are systematized in Chart 2.

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Chart 2
Social Reproduction Matrix of the health of fishers affected by the disaster-crime of the oil spill on the coast of Pernambuco.

The ecological dimension shows that oil repeatedly and extensively reached the Brazilian coast. In Pernambuco, 48 beaches, eight river estuaries, 17 coastal state conservation units (CUs), and the Costa dos Corais Environmental Protection Area were directly or indirectly affected, reaching approximately 70% of the state’s beaches. Oil was sighted in 13 municipalities, from which about 1,650 tons of waste were removed²³^-²⁷. Notably, the definition of beach boundaries is often uncertain and may affect the quantity identified²⁵.

Oil was found across the coastal ecosystem, as reported by 69.3% of fishers, contaminating fauna and flora, causing the death of marine animal species, and possibly contaminating fishery products²²^,²⁸. The environmental right to preservation, ecosystem protection, and the improvement and restoration of environmental quality conducive to life, as established by the National Environmental Policy, was not guaranteed²⁹. All fishing territories along the Pernambuco coast were intensely affected, with damage to traditional fishing areas; 81.1% reported a large or extreme impact on catch volume, leading to changes in fishing and shellfish gathering areas and affecting the self-awareness and conduct dimension.

Fishing is scarce today, because before I saw much more fauna and flora. Fish in the sea were abundant; I would go to the edge of the mangrove and find the catch easily. Today I need to go into the mangrove and look for new places, because the places I used to visit no longer have fish, due to pollution and oil. After the spill, I saw a lot of death in the mangrove. Turtles arrived covered in oil, and fish appeared dead or intoxicated. Nature has changed and no longer provides for me as it once did. This situation made me desperate! (Fishers’ CSD).

The federal government acted in a disordered, fragmented, and delayed manner²³^-²⁶, with ineffective techniques and equipment traditionally used to detect and combat oil spills and inadequate storage of the oil removed from beaches²²^,²³^,²⁶^,²⁷, and without holding those responsible for this environmental crime accountable²³^,²⁷^,²⁸^,³¹^,³². Law No. 9,966/2000³⁴ was not complied with; it prohibits the discharge of harmful or hazardous substances in waters under national jurisdiction, establishes that those responsible must be held accountable, and requires activation of the National Contingency Plan.

Decree No. 9,759/2019³³ abolished support mechanisms that had been created, such as committees established by the National Contingency Plan for Oil Pollution Incidents in Waters under National Jurisdiction (PNC), leading to demobilization²⁵^,²⁶ and to a delay by the Ministry of the Environment in formalizing the PNC; only, it only published Decree No. 10,950³⁵ on January 27, 2022, evidencing the federal government’s lack of preparedness for an event of such magnitude²⁴^,²⁹.

The Brazilian State was slow to protect the communities and to respond in a manner commensurate with the severity of the crime; it also rendered invisible and silenced the voices of the territories when they demanded justice and reparation³². The right to information and communication as a public good was denied. Information without a scientific basis about socioenvironmental and health-related vulnerabilities was disseminated, there was a delay in information and then abruptly interrupted by the media²³^,²⁷^,³¹. News released by the Brazilian State about contaminated fishery products generated fear of consumption, directly affecting the self-awareness and conduct dimension²⁴^,²⁶^,³⁰^,³¹.

They knew; perhaps even the city government already knew. However, I, from the community, did not. No one wanted to take responsibility; no one took the necessary measures, such as containing the oil while it was still at sea. (Fishers’ CSD)

Workers who depended directly or indirectly on fishing, whether fishers or vendors, did not know how to act in the municipality, whether they could sell fish or not, or whether the fish were contaminated. (Managers’ CSD)

These findings reinforce a historical cycle of injustice and environmental racism experienced by these territories and contributed to the communities’ low social participation in disaster management²⁶^,³¹^,³². As a way to reduce the lack of access to information and strengthen dialogue, artisanal fishing communities resorted to alternative media and developed community communication strategies³¹.

I was already providing training for the network, and by daybreak, the team was already prepared. Therefore, I did not involve the population. (Managers’ CSD)

Besides delaying the crisis response, the government encouraged volunteerism, which involved pregnant women and children in oil removal, with most volunteers unprotected and untrained²³^,²⁴^,²⁶^-²⁸^,³⁰^,³¹. Around 56.3% said that there was mobilization by at least one federated entity; 39.4% said the federal government mobilized during the disaster, and 41.1% believed state and municipal governments mobilized. However, 58.2% reported the involvement of scientific institutions, private companies, the hotel sector, social movements, nongovernmental organizations, fishing communities, and other civil society volunteers.

The help from volunteers was essential because there was no one from the public authorities, despite messages and videos being sent to alert people to the situation and ask for help. No one came; we did not know what harm it could cause us. I just wanted to save our beach-it is our life, our livelihood. (Fishers’ CSD)

People cleaned the beaches with their bare hands²⁷, exposing themselves during oil removal³² and affecting the self-awareness and conduct and biocommunal dimensions. Among respondents, 32.1% participated in cleanup activities, and 80% of them did so without training. Although 93.3% reported using PPE during removal, the equipment was inadequate.

I helped remove the oil, gathering the tar oil with a bucket and a wheelbarrow. There was so much oil! When I saw small patches while fishing, I also removed them. We used only gloves, boots, shovels, and black garbage bags. There were many bags, you know? (Fishers’ CSD)

The federated entities, especially the federal government, did not provide artisanal fishing communities with health, food, and nutrition security so that they could face this situation under dignified conditions³⁰. For 66% of fishers there was no type of reparation for the harm caused to their lives, and 68.2% did not receive staple food baskets from the federal government. Furthermore, State cash assistance was linked to the General Fishing Activity Registry (RGP), which has limited access, and was targeted to residents of affected municipalities²²^,²⁴^,²⁵^,³².

Health management fragility was evident, including a lack of prior preparedness, delayed action, lack of planning and protocols, lack of health surveillance of exposed populations³⁰, and a precarious care network²⁶. Reporting was low, with only 402 cases of exogenous oil poisoning, including 18 artisanal fishers³⁶, leading to limited knowledge of the actual severity of health impacts. The health surveillance system was slow to act to ensure health, food, and nutrition security for territorial populations and consumers of fishery products³⁰.

To my knowledge, there was no state-level contingency plan specific to this disaster, although some national regulations existed. When the first oil stain appeared, I began to mobilize to find out what to do. However, during this period, volunteers were already in contact with the oil. I believe I was not prepared to act; I did not yet have the technical capacity to understand oil. There was no record of contamination in the municipality. At first, I had no report or observation of health problems among people directly caused by the oil spill. (Managers’ CSD)

For 76.8% of fishers, there was an impact on quality of life, with repercussions for income, work, health, and social relationships, generating cultural and symbolic ruptures in fishing communities, characterizing the disaster-crime as a medium-intensity socioenvironmental conflict²⁷ and reverberating through the technoeconomic, self-awareness and conduct, and biocommunal dimensions.

The possible contamination of fishery products and fear of consuming them, as well as the interruption of fishing and decline in local tourism, led to a drastic reduction in sales, as reported by 99.4% of respondents, who described reduced demand for and sales of fishery products, whether to direct buyers, middlemen, or during the high tourism season, directly affecting these households’ income and food sovereignty²²^,²⁴^,²⁶^-²⁸^,³⁰^,³¹. In addition, 66.6% of respondents reported stopping consumption of fishery products at some point, and 20.5% discarded the fish and seafood they had caught, but 69.6% reported resuming consumption out of necessity.

Since I was a child, I have accompanied my parents on fishing trips. Before, I spent the day harvesting oysters, sururu mussels, and shellfish. However, today that is no longer possible. The oil caused severe contamination. I stopped fishing because I was afraid of the effects of the oil on my health. In the mangrove, I saw sururu mussels and oysters die. This situation compromised my income, because I could not sell my product; no one wanted to buy it. To avoid going hungry, my family and I had to eat the fishery products that were available, because we did not have the financial means to buy staple foods such as meat, rice, or beans. (Fishers’ CSD)

There was severe damage to fishing and tourism. Fishers, both men and women, live from fishing and catch for subsistence, but sales fell, and fishing was prohibited. Vendors and beachfront restaurants that sell fishery products at their stalls were also affected. People were afraid and no longer wanted to eat fish. The hotel sector was also affected, with fewer reservations. Health and social, cultural, and financial issues were significantly compromised. (Managers’ CSD)

Work instruments contaminated with oil were reported by 37.8% of fishers, with loss or reuse of those instruments, affecting the technoeconomic, self-awareness and conduct, and biocommunal dimensions.

Our work instruments were also affected, because we used them to remove oil from the sea. (Fishers’ CSD)

Artisanal fishers came into contact with oil (39.7%) during fishing or oil removal, as well as with other chemicals; this exposure increased the risk of poisoning, including among children and pregnant women³⁰, and generated intense distress in small-scale fishing communities, increasing risks to mental health. Despite post-exposure symptoms, many did not seek health care.

On the second day of oil removal, I became ill, with my fingernails and toenails damaged. Just as oil harms the environment, it also harms my health. Not being able to guarantee food for my family made me very sad. Seeing the mangrove animals die that way made me lose sleep, gave me headaches, crying spells, and a lot of anxiety. (Fishers’ CSD)

Based on the cases that emerged, I noticed a predominance of patients affected through respiratory and skin exposure. The most frequently identified symptoms were headache, nausea, dizziness, skin irritation, vomiting, and gastrointestinal symptoms. Many did not wear masks, although that was the guidance, along with the use of gloves. Some did not want to seek emergency care near their homes and treated themselves on their own. There was also another issue: many arrived home and tried to remove the oil with kerosene. (Managers’ CSD)

Discussion

Neo-extractivism reserves for the Global South the modernization of forms of subordination exercised throughout the colonial period, sustaining economic, political, social, and ecological dependency⁵ and maintaining the old globalized hierarchical division-the South as a space of dispossession and the North as the global center of capitalist accumulation³.

The oil industry guarantees high financial gains for countries but generates technological disasters with environmental impacts, including contamination of soil and sediments, marine flora and fauna, and the spread of contamination to terrestrial ecosystems, with reduced fish stocks, deterioration of water and soil quality, and increased exposure for fauna and human communities that depend on fishing for survival³⁷.

The implementation of neo-extractivist projects reshapes territories rich in sociobiodiversity exchanges and renders them vulnerable³⁸. Unrestrained exploitation produces socioenvironmental disasters and health-related vulnerabilities³⁹, exacerbated by the climate crisis, which affects vulnerable populations such as traditional communities⁴⁰.

In Brazil, maintaining and investing in new forms of oil exploitation as the basis of the development model moves the country away from international climate goals and agreements, creating challenges for a just transition, weakening the country’s climate discourse, and compromising ecologically sensitive regions for the global climate⁴¹. These actions run counter to international conventions that prioritize the protection of a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment⁴⁰ and to the Brazilian Federal Constitution⁴², which reinforces the role of public authorities in their duty to defend, preserve, and restore the environment for present and future generations.

The Brazilian political context at the time of the disaster-crime was marked by an intense dismantling of public policies¹⁵ and by necropower⁴³. The State’s lack of preparedness and disordered, delayed action¹^,¹³^,⁴⁴ affected the ecological dimension by failing to promote sustainable development and to guarantee the territorial, social, environmental, economic, and cultural rights of these peoples, as provided for in Decree No. 8.750 of 2016, which established the National Council of Traditional Peoples and Communities⁴⁵ and the National Environmental Policy²⁹.

The Ministry of the Environment delayed formalizing the PNC³⁵, which would have enabled coordinated action by public administration bodies and public and private entities to expand response capacity, minimize environmental damage, and prevent harm to public health.

The State, through its environmental agencies, must enforce Law No. 9,966/2000³⁴, which reinforces accountability for those responsible, because this disaster constitutes an environmental crime¹²^,¹⁴^,³⁵^,⁴⁴. Nevertheless, investigations by the Brazilian Navy, the Federal Police (PF), and IBAMA were inconclusive and fragmented, producing divergent results and failing to identify those responsible for the environmental crime¹³^,⁴⁴.

Under Brazilian environmental law, damages must be fully repaired even when the polluting source has not been established and regardless of fault³⁴; strict liability must be pursued, especially in light of the polluter-pays principle²⁹^,⁴². As long as the polluter is not identified, response and mitigation activities fall to the Federal Executive Branch³⁵.

Incipient actions and governmental incapacity to address this situation were evident¹. In this situation, the political dimension is defining, because the Brazilian State should have established protection for the environment and the population, which was not observed during the disaster-crime, thereby affecting the other dimensions of social reproduction.

Incipient measures for comprehensive community reparation, such as cash assistance, were also evidenced in other studies⁴⁴^,⁴⁶, which highlight the lack of reparative actions for disaster-related damage and dissatisfaction with government measures after the oil spill. The provision of financial subsidies and social support to affected families would reduce negative repercussions¹⁰^,⁴⁷, because, due to high dependence on the coastal ecosystem and the low social, physical, and financial capital usually available, artisanal fishing communities are less able to respond to and adapt to the drastic changes that occurred in their territories⁴⁷.

The limited dissemination by the media and federated entities of discussions on socioenvironmental and health-related vulnerabilities arising from this disaster-crime has also been observed in other studies¹²^,⁴⁸. The disaster-crime should have been considered a “Public Health Emergency”⁴⁹^,⁵⁰, enabling timely, rapid, and coordinated action among federated entities¹²^,¹⁴^,⁴² and strengthening risk management through surveillance (VIGIDESASTRES)⁵⁰^,⁵¹. As a Member State of the World Health Organization and signatory to its agreements and conventions, Brazil is committed to ensuring the implementation of health actions focused on public health emergencies⁵¹.

The lack of administrative, criminal, and reparatory sanctions exposed, beyond a technical limitation, a governmental political decision to leave the bodies and territories of traditional peoples unprotected and sacrificed⁴³. It was the State’s responsibility to establish the boundaries between rights, violence, and death, but it used power and denialist discourse to instill fear and insecurity⁴³. By prioritizing a development model devoid of social participation³⁹, the invisibilization of artisanal fishing communities’ voices was exacerbated, and historical processes of institutional and socioenvironmental injustice and racism were reinforced¹²^,¹⁵^,²⁰.

The entire fishing production chain was affected, from the interruption of fishing to implications for hotel activity and local commerce, compromising household income and food sovereignty⁴⁴^,⁴⁷. This impairment led fishers and their families to consume fishery products even though they knew they could be contaminated by oil⁴⁷, affecting the biocommunal dimension. Analyses of fishery products by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Supply (MAPA) showed that samples of albacore tuna (Thunnus alalunga) and parrotfish (Sparisoma sp.) evidenced levels of concern for health⁵².

Environmental contamination goes beyond apparent safety thresholds, reinforcing the importance of considering the interaction between the ecological and biocommunal dimensions transversally, highlighting the consequences of environmental contamination, generating risks associated with prolonged exposure, and producing medium and long-term health impacts⁵³.

Encouraging volunteerism mobilized many people, especially artisanal fishers, to remove oil without training¹^,¹²^,¹⁴, under the premise of defending the territory, thereby creating a process of vulnerability rooted in State insufficiency. The use of work instruments contaminated with oil, associated with the lack or inadequate use of PPE¹⁰^,¹⁴^,⁴⁶^,⁴⁷, intensified contamination risk¹², increasing the possibility of health effects among exposed individuals, both artisanal fishing communities and oil-cleanup volunteers, and generating effects in the biocommunal dimension.

The impacts of oil exposure on human health are broad, ranging from acute to chronic effects, with involvement of the respiratory, neurological, hepatic, renal, and endocrine systems²⁰^,⁵³, and may also affect mental health³⁸. The lack of preparedness among professionals and health managers to act during the disaster reveals the distance between the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) and the National Policy for Comprehensive Health of Rural, Forest, and Water Populations (PNSICFA)⁵⁴, which seeks to guarantee health care to peoples of the waters by strengthening access to the Health Care Network (RAS), health promotion and surveillance actions, and popular health education.

The SUS must be prepared to act in Public Health emergencies, supporting professional training processes¹⁵^,⁴⁶ and developing surveillance strategies based on popular participation⁵⁵^-⁵⁷. Establishing a dialogue of knowledges⁵⁶ among the social stakeholders who live and work in these territories gives these communities a voice and visibility⁵⁵.

Integrating popular surveillance that considers these communities’ knowledge and action in their territories, through collaborative construction involving diverse social stakeholders, can contribute to environmental oversight and to improve the environmental and health public policies⁵⁵^-⁵⁷.

Final considerations

The neo-extractivist model, with its polluting matrices, impacts the environment and modifies the traditional practices and ways of life existing in territories, directly affecting the ways of living and relating of communities with an interdependent relationship with nature.

The analysis of the social determination of health related to the oil spill disaster-crime on the Brazilian coast allowed us to understand its close relationship with this model marked by environmental unsustainability, revealing this complex process and its repercussions for the ways of life and social reproduction of health among peoples in the affected territories.

This situation requires the enforcement of environmental, social, and health legislation to promote comprehensive reparation for affected communities, especially artisanal fishers, as well as surveillance, monitoring, and health care actions for people exposed to oil and ecosystem recovery, as strategies of socioenvironmental justice.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the artisanal fishing social movements and the Municipal and State Health Secretariats of Pernambuco that contributed to the research in the study areas. We are also grateful to all the research team members to whom this study is linked and who assisted during the fieldwork, cleaning, organization, and analysis of the database.

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¹² Pena PGL, Northcross AL, Lima MAG, Rêgo RCF. Derramamento de óleo bruto na costa brasileira em 2019: emergência em saúde pública em questão. Cad Saude Publica 2020; 36(2):e00231019.
¹³ Santos MOS, Nepomuceno MM, Gonçalves JE, Medeiros, ACLV, Machado RM, Santos CPS, Alves MJCF, Gurgel AM, Gurgel IGD. Oil Spill in Brazil-Analysis of Vulnerabilities and Socio-Environmental Conflicts. Bio Chem 2022; 2(4):260-268.
¹⁴ Araújo MED, Ramalho CWN, Melo PWD. Pescadores artesanais, consumidores e meio ambiente: consequências imediatas do vazamento de petróleo no Estado de Pernambuco, Nordeste do Brasil. Cad Saude Publica 2020; 36(1):e00230319.
¹⁵ Alves MJCF, Machado LOR, Freitas CM, Costa RCL, Gurgel AM, Gurgel IGD, Santos, MOS. Avaliação da atuação da gestão em saúde no desastre-crime de derramamento de petróleo na costa do estado de Pernambuco. Saude Debate 2024; 48(142):e8832.
¹⁶ Breilh J. Epidemiologia Crítica e a Saúde dos Povos: Ciência Ética e Corajosa em uma Civilização Doentia. São Paulo: Hucitec; 2024.
¹⁷ Samaja J. A reprodução social e a saúde: elementos teóricos e metodológicos sobre a questão das "relações" entre saúde e condições de vida. Salvador: Casa da Qualidade Editora; 2000.
¹⁸ Medeiros MSD, Augusto LGDS, Costa AM, Barca S, Santos SL, Gonçalves ICM, Martinez-Espinosa FE, Rocha DF. A Reprodução Social como perspectiva metodológica para análise contextualizada das condições de vida e de saúde. Cad Saude Publica 2022; 38(10):e00150320.
¹⁹ Lefevre F, Lefevre AMC, Marques MCC. Discurso do sujeito coletivo, complexidade e auto-organização. Cien Saude Colet 2009; 14(4):1193-1204.
²⁰ Gonçalves JE, Medeiros ACLV, Lima VMC, Souza WV; Rego RCF, Santos MOS, Gurgel IGD. Socio-occupational conditions and health of fishers exposed to the oil disaster-crime in Pernambuco, Brazil. Rev Bras Epidemiol. 2024; 27:e242250.
²¹ Santos MOS, Medeiros ACLV, Silva ES, Machado RM, Gonçalves JE, Gurgel AM, Gurgel IGD. Vulnerabilidades socioambientais na pesca artesanal: desafios e conquistas para Territórios Saudáveis e Sustentáveis em Pernambuco. Saude Debate 2024; 48(n. esp. 1):e8718.
²² Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz). Laboratório de Saúde, Ambiente e Trabalho (LASAT). Carta aberta pela declaração de estado de emergência em Saúde Pública diante os perigos da exposição ao óleo de petróleo nas praias nordestinas e para o desenvolvimento de ações de vigilância popular e cuidado em saúde. Recife: LASAT/IAM/Fiocruz; 2019.
²³ Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis (Ibama). Incidente de Poluição por Óleo na Costa Brasileira. Relatório final. Rio de Janeiro: Ibama/MMA; 2020.
²⁴ Comissão Temporária Externa para Acompanhar as Ações de Enfrentamento às Manchas de Óleo no Litoral Brasileiro (CTEOLEO). Relatório Final. Brasília: Senado federal; 2022.
²⁵ Secretaria de Meio Ambiente e Sustentabilidade (SEMAS). Relatório ações emergenciais decorrente do crime ambiental do derrame de petróleo cru no litoral Pernambucano. Recife: SEMAS; 2020.
²⁶ Mesquita B, Quinamo T. Impactos socioeconômicos e ambientais da contaminação por petróleo nas praias do litoral da região Nordeste do Brasil. Relatório parcial. Recife: Fundação Joaquim Nabuco; 2020.
²⁷ Pontes C, Ferreira C, Santos M. Oil spill in 2019 in the sea and on the beaches of Northeast, Brazil. Global Atlas of Environmental Justice (EJATLAS); 2021.
²⁸ Ramalho CWN, Santos S. O cotidiano das comunidades pesqueiras entre o petróleo e o novo coronavírus. In: Barros S, Medeiros A, Gomes EB, editores. Conflitos socioambientais e violações de direitos humanos em comunidades tradicionais pesqueiras no Brasil: relatório 2021. 2ª ed. Olinda: CPP; 2021. p. 224-229.
²⁹ Brasil. Lei nº 6.938, de 31 de agosto de 1981. Dispõe sobre a Política Nacional do Meio Ambiente, seus fins e mecanismos de formulação e aplicação, e dá outras providências. Diário Oficial da União 1981; 2 set.
³⁰ Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA). Pela declaração de estado de emergência em saúde pública para controle dos riscos decorrentes da maior tragédia de contaminação pelo petróleo na costa do Brasil. Salvador: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Saúde, Ambiente e Trabalho/Faculdade de Medicina da Bahia/UFBA; 2019.
³¹ Moura I, Lima NQ, Leite PPO, Melo PV. Vozes Silenciadas - a cobertura do vazamento do petróleo na costa brasileira. São Paulo: Intervozes; 2020.
³² Conselho Pastoral da Pesca. Manifesto Mar de Luta 5 anos: o crime do petróleo e as vozes dos pescadores e pescadoras artesanais. Olinda: CPP; 2020.
³³ Brasil. Decreto nº 9.759, de 11 de abril de 2019. Extingue e estabelece diretrizes, regras e limitações para colegiados da administração pública federal. Diário Oficial da União 2019; 11 abr.
³⁴ Brasil. Lei nº 9.966, de 29 de abril de 2000. Dispõe sobre a prevenção, o controle e a fiscalização da poluição causada por lançamento de óleo e outras substâncias nocivas ou perigosas em águas sob jurisdição nacional. Diário Oficial da União 2000; 29 abr.
³⁵ Brasil. Decreto nº 10.950, de 27 de janeiro de 2022. Dispõe sobre o Plano Nacional de Contingência para Incidentes de Poluição por Óleo em Águas sob Jurisdição Nacional. Diário Oficial da União 2022; 27 jan.
³⁶ Secretaria Estadual de Vigilância em Saúde (SEVS). Informe nº 8/2020. Intoxicações exógenas relacionadas ao petróleo. Recife: SEVS, Governo do Estado de Pernambuco; 2020.
³⁷ Euzebio CS, Rangel GS, Marques RC. Derramamento de petróleo e seus impactos no ambiente e na saúde humana. Rev Bras Cien Ambient 2019; 52:79-98.
³⁸ Knox W, Trigueiro A, Zanetti D. Os impactos socioambientais do desenvolvimento econômico na pesca artesanal: uma análise a partir dos modos de vida e de trabalho. Guará 2015; 2(2):24-34.
³⁹ Wanderley LJ, Millanez B, Gonçalves RJAF. Política mineral brasileira e neoextrativismo ultraneoliberal. In: Limonad E, Monteiro JC, Mansilla P, organizadores. Planejamento Territorial: reflexões críticas e práticas alternativas. São Paulo: Editora Max Limonad; 2021.
⁴⁰ Brasil. Corte interamericana de direitos humanos solicitação de opinião consultiva emergência climática e direitos humanos contribuições do brasil. Brasília: Ministério das relações exteriores; 2023.
⁴¹ Brito CS. COP 30, crise de confiança global e a contradição do petróleo na Foz do Amazonas. São Paulo: Instituto Socioambiental; 2025.
⁴² Brasil. Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil de 1988. Diário Oficial da União 1988; 5 out.
⁴³ Mbembe A. Necropolítica. 3ª ed. São Paulo: N-1 edições; 2018.
⁴⁴ Freitas PAN, Machado RM, Silva ES, Santos MOS, Gurgel IGD. Derramamento de petróleo e responsabilização do Estado: desafios da pesca artesanal em Pernambuco/Brasil. SER Soc 2023; 27(5):314-340.
⁴⁵ Brasil. Decreto no 8.750, de 9 de maio de 2016. Institui o Conselho Nacional dos Povos e Comunidades Tradicionais. Diário Oficial da União 2016; 10 maio.
⁴⁶ Freitas CM, Peres MCM. O desastre tecnológico envolvendo derramamento de petróleo no Brasil: diagnóstico preliminar sobre lições aprendidas e perspectivas futuras para o setor saúde. Relatório técnico. Rio de Janeiro: Fiocruz/ENSP; 2021.
⁴⁷ Estevo MO, Lopes PFM, Oliveira Júnior JGC, Junqueira AB, Santos APO, Lima JAS, Malhado ACM, Ladle RJ, Campos-Silva JV. Immediate social and economic impacts of a major oil spill on Brazilian coastal fishing communities. Mar Pollut Bull 2021; 164:111984.
⁴⁸ Silva LIM, Antunes MBC, Albuquerque MSV, Gurgel IGD, Santos MOSS. O derramamento de petróleo no litoral pernambucano a partir das narrativas do Jornal do Commercio. Rev Eletr Com Inf Inov Saude 2022; 16(4):913-925.
⁴⁹ Brasil. Portaria nº 2.952, de 14 de dezembro de 2011. Regulamenta, no âmbito do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS), o Decreto nº 7.616, de 17 de novembro de 2011, que dispõe sobre a declaração de Emergência em Saúde Pública de Importância Nacional (ESPIN) e institui a Força Nacional do Sistema Único de Saúde (FN-SUS). Diário Oficial da União 2011; 15 dez.
⁵⁰ Brasil. Portaria GM/MS nº 4.185, de 1º de dezembro de 2022. Altera a Portaria de Consolidação GM/MS nº 5, de 28 de setembro de 2017, para instituir o Programa Nacional de Vigilância em Saúde dos Riscos Associados aos Desastres - Vigidesastres, no âmbito do Sistema Único de Saúde - SUS. Diário Oficial da União 2011; 15 dez.
⁵¹ Souza ASS, Cavalcante JR, Proença R, Rodrigues IA.Histórico de implementação da gestão às emergências em saúde pública no Brasil. Epidemiol Serv Saude 2025; 34:e20240498.
⁵² Brasil. Ministério divulga novos resultados da análise de pescado da área atingida por óleo. Brasília: Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento - MAPA; 2019.
⁵³ Laffon B, Valdiglesias V, Pasáro E. Effects of Exposure to Oil Spills on Human Health: Updated Review Article. J Toxicol Environ Health 2016; 19(3):1-24.
⁵⁴ Brasil. Portaria no 2.311, de 23 de outubro de 2014. Altera a Portaria nº 2.866/GM/MS, de 2 de dezembro de 2011, que institui, no âmbito do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS), a Política Nacional de Saúde Integral das Populações do Campo e da Floresta (PNSIPCF). Diário Oficial da União 2014; 24 out.
⁵⁵ Souto RA, Batalhão ACS. Citizen science as a tool for collaborative site-specific oil spill mapping: the case of Brazil. Anais Acad Bras Cien 2022; 94(Supl. 2):e20211262.
⁵⁶ Silva LRC, Pessoa VM, Carneiro FF, Andrade NSM, Meireles AJA. Derramamento de petróleo no litoral brasileiro: (in)visibilidade de saberes e descaso com a vida de marisqueiras. Cien Saude Colet 2021; 26(12):6027-6036.
⁵⁷ Oliveira SS, Machado JMH, Coradin C. Vigilância popular em saúde: conceitos, experiências e desafios no contexto brasileiro. Interface (Botucatu) 2024; 28:e240304.

Funding

The financial resources used in the research were provided through the Research Program for the SUS: Shared Management in Health - PPSUS - PE 06/2020 - Process number: APQ-0188-4.06/20; Fiocruz Innovation Promotion Program - Inova Fiocruz - Strategic Orders Sustainable and Healthy Territories in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic - Process number: VPPIS-003-FIO-20-2-20; Postgraduate Scholarship from the Foundation for Support of Science and Technology/FACEPE, with process IBPG-0724-4.06/22, linked to Notice 24/2021 - PBPG 2022.1, for the development of the project Socio-environmental and health vulnerability of artisanal fishing workers exposed to crude oil on the Pernambuco coast, in the context of COVID-19: a perspective from the viewpoint of quality of life; Oswaldo Cruz Foundation/Vice-Presidency for Research and Biological Collections/Program of Public Policies and Models of Care and Management in Health - Fiocruz/VPPCB/PMA.

Data availability statement

This article’s research data are not available.

Chief editors:

Maria Cecília de Souza Minayo, Romeu Gomes, Antônio Augusto Moura da Silva, Vania de Matos Fonseca

Publication Dates

Publication in this collection
05 Oct 2026
Date of issue
2026

History

Received
07 Sept 2025
Accepted
08 May 2026
Published
10 May 2026

Este é um artigo publicado em acesso aberto sob uma licença Creative Commons

[1] ¹ Santos RCD, Gurgel ADM, Santos L, Rêgo RDCF, Gurgel IGD, Santos MOS. Desastres com petróleo e ações governamentais ante os impactos socioambientais e na saúde: scoping review. Saude Debate 2023; 46(1):201-220.

[2] ² Barron MG, Vivian DN, Heintz RA, Yim UH. Long-Term Ecological Impacts from Oil Spills: Comparison of Exxon Valdez, Hebei Spirit, and Deepwater Horizon. Environ Sci Technol 2020; 54(11):6456-6467.

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[4] ⁴ Gonçalves JE, Machado RM, Gurgel ADM, Rêgo RCF, Santos MOS, Gurgel IGD. Determinação social da saúde de trabalhadores da pesca artesanal em desastres com petróleo. SustDeb 2023; 14(2):43-67.

[5] ⁵ Gudynas E. Extractivismos: ecología, economía y política de un modo de entender el desarrollo y la naturaleza. Montevidéu: CLAES; 2015.

[6] ⁶ Domingues RCC, Santos MOS, Gurgel IGD. A vulneração socioambiental advinda do complexo industrial portuário de Suape: a perspectiva dos moradores da Ilha de Tatuoca-Ipojuca/PE. TEMPUS 2014; 28(2):69-91.

[7] ⁷ Delgado F, Neves P. Os impactos da geopolítica do petróleo na América Latina. Coleção FGV-energia - Caderno de opinião. Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo: Fundação Getúlio Vargas; 2019.

[8] ⁸ Silva JM, Santos SL, Cavalcanti AMC, Santos MO, Augusto LGS. Saúde e licenciamento ambiental: análise de um estudo de impactos ambientais de poços de petróleo no Nordeste do Brasil. Cien Saude Colet 2026; 31(3):e09622024.

[9] ⁹ Arias-Maldonado M. Antropoceno: la política en la época humana. Madrid: Taurus; 2018.

[10] ¹⁰ Santos MOS, Santos CPS, Alves MJCF, Gonçalves JE, Gurgel IGD. Oil in Northeast Brazil: mapping conflicts and impacts of the largest disaster on the country's coast. An Acad Bras Cien 2022; 94(s.2):17p.

[11] ¹¹ Silva FR, Schiavetti A, Malhado ACM, Ferreira B, Sousa CVP, Vieira FP, Pinto FR, Souza GBG, Olavo G, Santos JBQ, Campos-Silva JV, Oliveira Júnior JGC, Messias LT, Barbosa Filho MLV, Accioly MC, Fabré NN, Abdallah PR, Lopes PFM, Kikuchi RKP, Câmara SF, Batista VC, Soares VO. Oil Spill and Socioeconomic Vulnerability in Marine Protected Areas. Front Mar Sci 2022; 7:718.

[12] ¹² Pena PGL, Northcross AL, Lima MAG, Rêgo RCF. Derramamento de óleo bruto na costa brasileira em 2019: emergência em saúde pública em questão. Cad Saude Publica 2020; 36(2):e00231019.

[13] ¹³ Santos MOS, Nepomuceno MM, Gonçalves JE, Medeiros, ACLV, Machado RM, Santos CPS, Alves MJCF, Gurgel AM, Gurgel IGD. Oil Spill in Brazil-Analysis of Vulnerabilities and Socio-Environmental Conflicts. Bio Chem 2022; 2(4):260-268.

[14] ¹⁴ Araújo MED, Ramalho CWN, Melo PWD. Pescadores artesanais, consumidores e meio ambiente: consequências imediatas do vazamento de petróleo no Estado de Pernambuco, Nordeste do Brasil. Cad Saude Publica 2020; 36(1):e00230319.

[15] ¹⁵ Alves MJCF, Machado LOR, Freitas CM, Costa RCL, Gurgel AM, Gurgel IGD, Santos, MOS. Avaliação da atuação da gestão em saúde no desastre-crime de derramamento de petróleo na costa do estado de Pernambuco. Saude Debate 2024; 48(142):e8832.

[16] ¹⁶ Breilh J. Epidemiologia Crítica e a Saúde dos Povos: Ciência Ética e Corajosa em uma Civilização Doentia. São Paulo: Hucitec; 2024.

[17] ¹⁷ Samaja J. A reprodução social e a saúde: elementos teóricos e metodológicos sobre a questão das "relações" entre saúde e condições de vida. Salvador: Casa da Qualidade Editora; 2000.

[18] ¹⁸ Medeiros MSD, Augusto LGDS, Costa AM, Barca S, Santos SL, Gonçalves ICM, Martinez-Espinosa FE, Rocha DF. A Reprodução Social como perspectiva metodológica para análise contextualizada das condições de vida e de saúde. Cad Saude Publica 2022; 38(10):e00150320.

[19] ¹⁹ Lefevre F, Lefevre AMC, Marques MCC. Discurso do sujeito coletivo, complexidade e auto-organização. Cien Saude Colet 2009; 14(4):1193-1204.

[20] ²⁰ Gonçalves JE, Medeiros ACLV, Lima VMC, Souza WV; Rego RCF, Santos MOS, Gurgel IGD. Socio-occupational conditions and health of fishers exposed to the oil disaster-crime in Pernambuco, Brazil. Rev Bras Epidemiol. 2024; 27:e242250.

[21] ²¹ Santos MOS, Medeiros ACLV, Silva ES, Machado RM, Gonçalves JE, Gurgel AM, Gurgel IGD. Vulnerabilidades socioambientais na pesca artesanal: desafios e conquistas para Territórios Saudáveis e Sustentáveis em Pernambuco. Saude Debate 2024; 48(n. esp. 1):e8718.

[22] ²² Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz). Laboratório de Saúde, Ambiente e Trabalho (LASAT). Carta aberta pela declaração de estado de emergência em Saúde Pública diante os perigos da exposição ao óleo de petróleo nas praias nordestinas e para o desenvolvimento de ações de vigilância popular e cuidado em saúde. Recife: LASAT/IAM/Fiocruz; 2019.

[23] ²³ Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis (Ibama). Incidente de Poluição por Óleo na Costa Brasileira. Relatório final. Rio de Janeiro: Ibama/MMA; 2020.

[24] ²⁴ Comissão Temporária Externa para Acompanhar as Ações de Enfrentamento às Manchas de Óleo no Litoral Brasileiro (CTEOLEO). Relatório Final. Brasília: Senado federal; 2022.

[25] ²⁵ Secretaria de Meio Ambiente e Sustentabilidade (SEMAS). Relatório ações emergenciais decorrente do crime ambiental do derrame de petróleo cru no litoral Pernambucano. Recife: SEMAS; 2020.

[26] ²⁶ Mesquita B, Quinamo T. Impactos socioeconômicos e ambientais da contaminação por petróleo nas praias do litoral da região Nordeste do Brasil. Relatório parcial. Recife: Fundação Joaquim Nabuco; 2020.

[27] ²⁷ Pontes C, Ferreira C, Santos M. Oil spill in 2019 in the sea and on the beaches of Northeast, Brazil. Global Atlas of Environmental Justice (EJATLAS); 2021.

[28] ²⁸ Ramalho CWN, Santos S. O cotidiano das comunidades pesqueiras entre o petróleo e o novo coronavírus. In: Barros S, Medeiros A, Gomes EB, editores. Conflitos socioambientais e violações de direitos humanos em comunidades tradicionais pesqueiras no Brasil: relatório 2021. 2ª ed. Olinda: CPP; 2021. p. 224-229.

[29] ²⁹ Brasil. Lei nº 6.938, de 31 de agosto de 1981. Dispõe sobre a Política Nacional do Meio Ambiente, seus fins e mecanismos de formulação e aplicação, e dá outras providências. Diário Oficial da União 1981; 2 set.

[30] ³⁰ Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA). Pela declaração de estado de emergência em saúde pública para controle dos riscos decorrentes da maior tragédia de contaminação pelo petróleo na costa do Brasil. Salvador: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Saúde, Ambiente e Trabalho/Faculdade de Medicina da Bahia/UFBA; 2019.

[31] ³¹ Moura I, Lima NQ, Leite PPO, Melo PV. Vozes Silenciadas - a cobertura do vazamento do petróleo na costa brasileira. São Paulo: Intervozes; 2020.

[32] ³² Conselho Pastoral da Pesca. Manifesto Mar de Luta 5 anos: o crime do petróleo e as vozes dos pescadores e pescadoras artesanais. Olinda: CPP; 2020.

[33] ³³ Brasil. Decreto nº 9.759, de 11 de abril de 2019. Extingue e estabelece diretrizes, regras e limitações para colegiados da administração pública federal. Diário Oficial da União 2019; 11 abr.

[34] ³⁴ Brasil. Lei nº 9.966, de 29 de abril de 2000. Dispõe sobre a prevenção, o controle e a fiscalização da poluição causada por lançamento de óleo e outras substâncias nocivas ou perigosas em águas sob jurisdição nacional. Diário Oficial da União 2000; 29 abr.

[35] ³⁵ Brasil. Decreto nº 10.950, de 27 de janeiro de 2022. Dispõe sobre o Plano Nacional de Contingência para Incidentes de Poluição por Óleo em Águas sob Jurisdição Nacional. Diário Oficial da União 2022; 27 jan.

[36] ³⁶ Secretaria Estadual de Vigilância em Saúde (SEVS). Informe nº 8/2020. Intoxicações exógenas relacionadas ao petróleo. Recife: SEVS, Governo do Estado de Pernambuco; 2020.

[37] ³⁷ Euzebio CS, Rangel GS, Marques RC. Derramamento de petróleo e seus impactos no ambiente e na saúde humana. Rev Bras Cien Ambient 2019; 52:79-98.

[38] ³⁸ Knox W, Trigueiro A, Zanetti D. Os impactos socioambientais do desenvolvimento econômico na pesca artesanal: uma análise a partir dos modos de vida e de trabalho. Guará 2015; 2(2):24-34.

[39] ³⁹ Wanderley LJ, Millanez B, Gonçalves RJAF. Política mineral brasileira e neoextrativismo ultraneoliberal. In: Limonad E, Monteiro JC, Mansilla P, organizadores. Planejamento Territorial: reflexões críticas e práticas alternativas. São Paulo: Editora Max Limonad; 2021.

[40] ⁴⁰ Brasil. Corte interamericana de direitos humanos solicitação de opinião consultiva emergência climática e direitos humanos contribuições do brasil. Brasília: Ministério das relações exteriores; 2023.

[41] ⁴¹ Brito CS. COP 30, crise de confiança global e a contradição do petróleo na Foz do Amazonas. São Paulo: Instituto Socioambiental; 2025.

[42] ⁴² Brasil. Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil de 1988. Diário Oficial da União 1988; 5 out.

[43] ⁴³ Mbembe A. Necropolítica. 3ª ed. São Paulo: N-1 edições; 2018.

[44] ⁴⁴ Freitas PAN, Machado RM, Silva ES, Santos MOS, Gurgel IGD. Derramamento de petróleo e responsabilização do Estado: desafios da pesca artesanal em Pernambuco/Brasil. SER Soc 2023; 27(5):314-340.

[45] ⁴⁵ Brasil. Decreto no 8.750, de 9 de maio de 2016. Institui o Conselho Nacional dos Povos e Comunidades Tradicionais. Diário Oficial da União 2016; 10 maio.

[46] ⁴⁶ Freitas CM, Peres MCM. O desastre tecnológico envolvendo derramamento de petróleo no Brasil: diagnóstico preliminar sobre lições aprendidas e perspectivas futuras para o setor saúde. Relatório técnico. Rio de Janeiro: Fiocruz/ENSP; 2021.

[47] ⁴⁷ Estevo MO, Lopes PFM, Oliveira Júnior JGC, Junqueira AB, Santos APO, Lima JAS, Malhado ACM, Ladle RJ, Campos-Silva JV. Immediate social and economic impacts of a major oil spill on Brazilian coastal fishing communities. Mar Pollut Bull 2021; 164:111984.

[48] ⁴⁸ Silva LIM, Antunes MBC, Albuquerque MSV, Gurgel IGD, Santos MOSS. O derramamento de petróleo no litoral pernambucano a partir das narrativas do Jornal do Commercio. Rev Eletr Com Inf Inov Saude 2022; 16(4):913-925.

[49] ⁴⁹ Brasil. Portaria nº 2.952, de 14 de dezembro de 2011. Regulamenta, no âmbito do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS), o Decreto nº 7.616, de 17 de novembro de 2011, que dispõe sobre a declaração de Emergência em Saúde Pública de Importância Nacional (ESPIN) e institui a Força Nacional do Sistema Único de Saúde (FN-SUS). Diário Oficial da União 2011; 15 dez.

[50] ⁵⁰ Brasil. Portaria GM/MS nº 4.185, de 1º de dezembro de 2022. Altera a Portaria de Consolidação GM/MS nº 5, de 28 de setembro de 2017, para instituir o Programa Nacional de Vigilância em Saúde dos Riscos Associados aos Desastres - Vigidesastres, no âmbito do Sistema Único de Saúde - SUS. Diário Oficial da União 2011; 15 dez.

[51] ⁵¹ Souza ASS, Cavalcante JR, Proença R, Rodrigues IA.Histórico de implementação da gestão às emergências em saúde pública no Brasil. Epidemiol Serv Saude 2025; 34:e20240498.

[52] ⁵² Brasil. Ministério divulga novos resultados da análise de pescado da área atingida por óleo. Brasília: Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento - MAPA; 2019.

[53] ⁵³ Laffon B, Valdiglesias V, Pasáro E. Effects of Exposure to Oil Spills on Human Health: Updated Review Article. J Toxicol Environ Health 2016; 19(3):1-24.

[54] ⁵⁴ Brasil. Portaria no 2.311, de 23 de outubro de 2014. Altera a Portaria nº 2.866/GM/MS, de 2 de dezembro de 2011, que institui, no âmbito do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS), a Política Nacional de Saúde Integral das Populações do Campo e da Floresta (PNSIPCF). Diário Oficial da União 2014; 24 out.

[55] ⁵⁵ Souto RA, Batalhão ACS. Citizen science as a tool for collaborative site-specific oil spill mapping: the case of Brazil. Anais Acad Bras Cien 2022; 94(Supl. 2):e20211262.

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Social Reproduction of Health dimensions	Definition	Analysis categories	Data collection sources
Ecological Reproduction	Problems caused to common goods through the neo-extractive model represented by the oil industry, in the degradation of the coastal ecosystem in which artisanal fishing communities live and depend.	Characterization of the losses and damages caused to the coastal ecosystem.	Primary data: Epidemiological survey Interviews with fishermen/fisherwomen Secondary data: •Analysis of the following documents: Open letter from the Laboratory of Health, Environment, and Work (LASAT)²². Report from the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA)²³; Report from the temporary external committee to monitor actions to combat oil spills on the Brazilian coast (CTEOLEO)²⁴; Report from the Pernambuco State Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainability (SEMAS/PE)²⁵; Report from the Joaquim Nabuco Foundation (FUNDAJ)²⁶; Global Map of Environmental Justice (Ejatlas)²⁷; Report of the Pastoral Council of Fishermen and Fisherwomen (CPP)²⁸; Law No. 6,938/1981²⁹
Political Reproduction	Relations between the affected population and federative entities, as well as with civil society, other institutions and the media, including the guarantee of rights, social support and visibility of the reality experienced by artisanal fishing communities.	The actions of municipal, state, and federal agencies in the face of the disaster-crime, in protecting and guaranteeing the rights of affected citizens; the actions of scientific institutions, non-governmental organizations, and volunteers; and the role of the national media in disseminating information about the disaster.	Primary data: Epidemiological survey Interviews with fishermen/fisherwomen Interviews with health managers Secondary data: • Analysis of the following documents: LASAT Letter²²; IBAMA’s Report²³; CTEOLEO’s Report²⁴; SEMAS Report²⁵; FUNDAJ’s Report²⁶; Ejatlas²⁷; CPP’s Report²⁸; Letter from the Postgraduate Program in Health, Workplace Environment (PPGSAT)³⁰; Intervozes Report³¹; Sea of Struggle Manifesto³²; Decree No. 9,759/2019³³; Law No. 9,966/2000³⁴; Decree No. 10,950/2022³⁵.
Technoeconomic Reproduction	Territorial and extraterritorial relations that negatively impacted the work process and income generation of artisanal fishers affected by the disaster-crime.	Transformations caused by the disaster-crime on the artisanal fishing production chain.	Primary data: Epidemiological survey Interviews with fishermen/fisherwomen Interviews with health managers Secondary data: • Analysis of the following documents: LASAT Letter²²; CTEOLEO’s Report²⁴; SEMAS Report²⁵; FUNDAJ’s Report²⁶; Ejatlas²⁷; CPP’s Report ²⁸; PPGSAT’s Letter³⁰; Intervozes Report³¹; Sea of Struggle Manifesto³².
Reproduction of Self-Awareness and Conduct	Modifications in social interactions embedded in the life context of artisanal fishers, as a traditional population with their particular ways of life and in intense interaction with the common goods of their territories.	The implications and conduct of artisanal fishers in the face of losses and damages caused by the disaster-crime.	Primary data: Epidemiological survey Interviews with fishermen/fisherwomen Interviews with health managers Secondary data: • Analysis of the following documents: Carta LASAT²²; Relatório da CTEOLEO²⁴; Ejatlas²⁷; Relatório do CPP²⁸; Carta do PPGSAT³⁰; Relatório da Intervozes³¹; Manifesto mar de Luta³².
Biocommunal Reproduction	Material living conditions of artisanal fishers, considering, in particular, the extent to which their health has been affected by the disaster-crime.	Compromised physical and mental health, as well as food and nutritional security, resulting from contact with oil, whether during work or removal, for artisanal fishers.	Primary data: Epidemiological survey Interviews with fishermen/fisherwomen Interviews with health managers Secondary data: • Analysis of the following documents: Carta LASAT²²; Relatório da CTEOLEO²⁴; Relatório da FUNDAJ²⁶; Ejatlas²⁷; Relatório do CPP²⁸; Carta do PPGSAT³⁰; Boletim da vigilância epidemiológica da Secretaria Estadual de Saúde (SES/PE)³⁶.

Social Reproduction of Health dimensions	Summary of results
Ecological Reproduction	• Vast stretch of coastline affected by the oil spill; • Pollution and degradation of the coastal ecosystem’s biodiversity, compromising conservation units and environmental protection areas; • The oil underwent an intense weathering process, had high concentrations of medium and long-chain hydrocarbons, and low biodegradation potential; • Losses and damage to traditional artisanal fishing areas; • Decrease and possible contamination of fish stocks; • Appearance of new oil slicks after the months of the disaster’s greatest intensity, possibly due to oil deposited on the seabed and coral reefs. • Failure to guarantee the environmental right to preservation, protection of ecosystems, and improvement and recovery of environmental quality conducive to life.
Political Reproduction	•Federal government’s delayed and disorganized action, hindering the action of other federated entities; • Federal government’s delayed formalization of the National Contingency Plan for Oil Pollution Incidents in Waters under National Jurisdiction, with the decree only being published in 2022 and the oil pollution incident management committees being dissolved; • Federal government’s inefficient action in identifying and holding those responsible accountable; • Federal government’s delay and lack of scientific basis for information on the risks of exposure to oil and on fish consumption; • Failure in monitoring, containment, and storage of oil, with ineffective techniques and equipment used for detection and combating; • Denial of information as a public good, with the dissemination of news without a scientific basis, delays in news reporting, abrupt interruptions in media coverage, and prioritization of economic bias over socio-environmental and health vulnerabilities by national media; • Federal government’s intense appeal to volunteerism for oil removal, leading to the mobilization of civil society, scientific institutions, private companies, and non-governmental organizations; • Federated entities’ lack of guidance and delays in training for executing voluntary oil removal work; • Federal government’s insufficient reparation measures, generating dissatisfaction among fishers; • Invisibility of communities in affected territories by major national media outlets and federated entities, intensifying injustices and socio-environmental racism in artisanal fishing territories; • Failure to guarantee the right to social participation of communities in affected territories in disaster management; • State financial aid linked to the general registration of fishing activity (RGP), which has limited access and is directed to residents in affected municipalities;
Political Reproduction	• Federal government’s failure to declare a state of public health emergency; • Failure to provide adequate PPE in a timely manner for cleaning; • Lack of preparedness in the health sector, with disorganized and delayed action in the assistance and surveillance of those exposed; • Lack of effective action by the health surveillance system to guarantee health, food and nutritional security for the populations of the territories and consumers of fish; • Lack of guaranteed access for those exposed to the health care network (RAS).
Technoeconomic Reproduction	• Low receipt of state financial aid; • Drastic reduction in the sale and income from fish; • Interrupted fishing activity; • Impact on the entire production chain of fishing, tourism and local commerce; • Work tools soiled with oil; • Loss of work tools.
Reproduction of Self-Awareness and Conduct	• Disaster-crime as a medium-intensity socio-environmental conflict; • Interpersonal conflicts caused by food insecurity; • Intense mobilization of artisanal fishing communities in the cleanup; • Support from social movements in providing social assistance to affected communities; • Cultural and symbolic disruptions in fishing communities; • Forced interruption of fishing activity and change in workplace; • Use of petroleum-soaked work tools; • Low or inadequate use of personal protective equipment, both at work and during oil removal; • Contact with petroleum during fishing and removal work; • Fear of consumption and consumption of potentially contaminated fish; • Presence of pregnant women and children during oil removal; • Lack of knowledge about short- and long-term damage due to exposure; • Use of chemicals to remove oil from the body; • Low demand for healthcare for those exposed; • Perception of the importance of alternative media; • Development of community communication strategies.
Biocommunal Reproduction	• Risks of poisoning from exposure to petroleum during fishing work, from consumption and removal of petroleum, and from exposure to chemicals used to remove petroleum from the body and work equipment; • Risk of poisoning for children and pregnant women; • Cases of exogenous poisoning among artisanal fishers; • Effects on physical and mental health, with the possibility of acute and chronic effects on fishers and exogenous poisoning of volunteers who worked on cleaning the beaches, despite low reporting rates. • Food and nutritional insecurity in artisanal fishing communities.