<div style="position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;"><iframe src="https://iframe.mediadelivery.net/embed/393127/872ceeb3-155f-4751-971a-3a752add4e92?autoplay=true&loop=false&muted=false&preload=true&responsive=true" loading="lazy" style="border:0;position:absolute;top:0;height:100%;width:100%;" allow="accelerometer;gyroscope;autoplay;encrypted-media;picture-in-picture;" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div>
The couple Rogério Dias de Moura and Rosana Íris de Jesus are bait gatherers. Rosana, 39, has been doing this work since she was 9.
“We have no other choice, we have to face it. Doing this every day is hard. This is how we provide for our child,” says Rosana.
Rogério collects termites that will be used as bait. These insects are food for the tuvira, a Pantanal fish used as bait by tourists who visit the Pantanal of Mato Grosso do Sul to fish.
With enough insects, the couple moves on to the more challenging task.
Tuvira collection is done at night. The two spend four to seven hours a day with their feet in the water, amidst aquatic vegetation.
Without visibility, there are risks of attacks from alligators and anacondas.
Above the water, mosquitoes torment the gatherers.
Rogério says that some days it’s unbearable.
“Our faces get covered in bumps. By the next day, we wake up feeling worn out,” laments the river dweller.
The termites are thrown onto a tarp. When the tuviras come up in search of food, they are collected and stored in containers.
Each one is sold for R$ 1.80, about US$ 0.33, to tourists.
Little by little, the couple is adding a new source of income to their survival strategy in the Serra do Amolar, an inhospitable region of the Pantanal.
With guidance from charitable organizations, the couple and other residents of the area are investing in sustainable tourism.
Rogério and Rosana built a lodge in their backyard, with the capacity to house eight people. The project took two years to complete and is already welcoming visitors from other states.
Tourists use the accommodations for sleeping and also for meals.
Rosana prepares meals using traditional Pantanal recipes.
The investment, according to Rogério, is so that their children won’t have to go through the exhausting and dangerous work of gathering bait.
“I get emotional...” he said, “... because for many years we’ve been thinking about this, wanting to have a better life, to improve our situation a bit. To move away from bait collecting. I’m not saying I’ll stop what I do, which is my job, collecting bait, and it’s wonderful too... but it’s very exhausting because it’s just me and my wife. So, God will help us get out of this struggle too. And we are making progress, thank God, and we will succeed in getting out of this situation. Today, I feel happy, thank God. It used to be much harder for us. Today, things are already a bit better,” concluded the Pantanal dweller.