The conservation unities emerged in response to the environmental damages. In the Atlantic Forest of the Brazilian Northeast, the most of the damages come from the sugar-cane agro-industry, especially by the deforestation for the introduction of sugar-cane fields and installation of the industry structure. Besides the damages over the biodiversity, there are critical social problems that affect the communities which survive using directly or indirectly the biome from the Atlantic Forest. This article has the objective of identify the natural resources and the uses of them by a fisher´s community located at Baía Formosa/RN, and also analyze the symbolic and social practices reproduced in the Conservation Unity of the Mata Estrela before and after the creation and installation of a sugar-alcohol industry. For that, it was used the ethnographic approach, a literature review and the oral history approach. The symbolic and social practices in the Mata Estrela were stronger in the past. The fruits, wood, medicinal plants and the animals were used by the community for subsistence and trade. The social practices were the agriculture, hunting and gathering, and the entertainment. The symbolic practices were the legends, the ancient cemetery and the Santa Cruz das Areias Sanctuary.
Fisher´s Community; Conservation Unity; Natural Resources; Social Practices; Symbolic Practices
