It protects an area of mangroves, and allows the local population to make sustainable use of the natural resources.

[6] The Mestre Lucindo Marine Extractive Reserve lies to the west, on the opposite shore of the Marapanim River.

The Chocoaré - Mato Grosso Extractive Reserve is to the south, higher up the Maracanã River.

[9] On 22 June 2005 the Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária (National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform) recognised the reserve as supporting 1,000 families of small rural producers, allowing them to participate in PRONAF.

[8] On 30 October 2008 the environment ministry authorised a research project by the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi entitled "Ethnobotany in the fishing community of Vila da Penha (Maracanã Marine Extractive Reserve): Knowing and Valuing".

Administrative responsibility was transferred to the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) on 22 March 2010.

The reserve protects a typical coastal mangrove ecosystem with trees of the genera Rhizophora, Avicennia and Laguncularia.