Alcatrazes Islands
[2] In 2023, it was a recipient of the Blue Park gold level award for its "exceptional conservation of marine life during the 5th International Congress of Protected Sea Areas.
[4] The islands have been receiving an increasing number of researchers[5] and possess unparalleled importance for the Brazilian marine biodiversity, having more variety of fish than Fernando de Noronha.
The biggest one is known as Alcatrazes Island (2.5 km long[2] with an area of 170 hectares (420 acres)[3]) and the other ones are called da Sapata, do Paredão, do Porto (or do Farol) and do Sul.
[8] As described in the sub-section "Geology" above, the islands were for tens of thousands of years linked to the continent, which provided easy access to the place for several species.
As the waters rose again and the mountains returned to their island status, the animals that were stranded there either died or adapted and evolved, giving birth to all those unique species[8] which resulted from 11,000 years of genetic isolate.
[2][3] Some 10 to 20,000 birds live in the archipelago, with over 100 different confirmed species (another source speaks of 92[10]), including endangered ones like the American oystercatcher and the South American tern[8][10] The colonizing expedition lead by Martim Afonso de Sousa between 1530 and 1532 already took note of bird sightings in the place, and the one lead by Luederwaldt & Fonseca in 1920 catalogued 39 additional species, of which 17 were deemed resident.
[10][3][19][23] The not so long nor so short distance between island and continent combined with the fact that it is located in a transition zone of warm tropical waters to colder subtropical ones make for the big diversity of fishes.
[19] Beside the Navy exercises, another threat to the local ecosystem is the sea pollution, be it from chemical dejects (which contaminate the plankton and, consequently, the whole food chain involved with it) or incorrectly disposed waste.
[10] Influenced by the South Atlantic High, the archipelago experiences hot and humid summers and dry, moderate winters.
[10] There are five archeological sites in the island, with remains of precolonial peoples and ruins dating back to the early 20th century - these are what's left of some buildings that would serve local lighthouse keepers.
[35] These attempts to occupy the islands produced the first significant impacts in the local flora, which is now recovering in the spaces that were previously deforested.
[10] In the 18th century, the main island was used by fishermen and caiçaras for fishing, shelter and guano extraction, producing through the latter efforts a valuable fertilizer.
[39] In 1920[40] or 1922, another visit, lead by Luederwaldt & Fonseca (from the Museum of Zoology of the University of São Paulo), took place in partnership with Instituto Butantan.
Alcatrazes was ultimately chosen due to the lower anticipated environmental impact and its proximity to Rio de Janeiro, where the fleet is kept moored.
[37] The shots, however, caused considerable environmental damage,[43] motivating a number of lawsuits willing to cease them,[2] although some researchers admit that the military presence helped protect the islands from fishermen.
[44][22] Even species that are native to the island, such as the Imperata brasiliensis and the Pteridium arachnoideum, demonstrated aggressive behavior in areas that suffered human interference.
[37][44] At that time, the Navy promised to carry out studies of their own to determine the impact of the shots in the local ecosystem and the analysis confirmed the damage.
Since then, and after an environmental impact assessment conducted by a joint team of researchers from the Environment and Defence Ministries, the exercises take place only once per year.
[37] In March 2012, the deputy mayor of São Sebastião, Wagner Teixeira (PV) was caught committing illegal fishing near the Paredão Island.
[10][47] He was at his personal boat with five more men, and didn't stop until his engine ran out of oil, even with the coast guard on his tail with the sirens on.
[2] Some researchers support touristic visitation to the archipelago, sustaining that the constant presence of people may discourage illegal fishing.
