Cassurubá Extractive Reserve

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Cassurubá Extractive Reserve (Reserva Extrativista de Cassurubá) is a protected area in Bahia, Brazil. It covers about 100,768 hectares along the Caravelas River estuary and the Atlantic coast north of Nova Viçosa, spanning the municipalities of Alcobaça, Caravelas and Nova Viçosa. The reserve includes extensive mangroves, sandbanks, remnants of the Atlantic Forest, and part of the Banco de Abrolhos, a very important area in the South Atlantic. It is near Abrolhos National Park and lies on Bahia’s south coast, an important region for humpback whale breeding and nursing. The area is designated IUCN Category VI—a protected area with sustainable use of natural resources—and is managed by ICMBio (Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation). Created on June 5, 2009, its purpose is to protect the livelihoods of local people and conserve renewable resources used by the extractive communities, which include about 300 families who harvest shellfish. The reserve is part of the Central Atlantic Forest Ecological Corridor (established in 2002). Main threats come from outside crab and shellfish harvesters using harmful methods, as well as tourist development and shrimp farming.