A symbol of Brazil’s Ceará state and present on its official coat of arms since 1897, sail rafts known as jangadas are 80% of the fishing vessels in the state, but they could lose ground to wind turbines installed at sea. The matter is relevant because small-scale fishers who use unmotorized sail rafts such as Ceará’s jangadas depend on the strength of the winds to move around in the sea. That could be severely impacted by the more than 4,300 offshore wind turbines to be installed within 3-35 kilometers (1.9-22 miles) from the shore. “Imagine a forest of giant wind turbines in your way, forcing detours and longer routes against or with the wind, where you used to move around freely,” reflects Ronaldo Gonzaga, a fisherman from Cumbe, a quilombo (maroon) community in Aracati, 150 km (93 mi) from the state capital Fortaleza. Furthermore, he adds, “imagine the noise and the shaking that the turbines will cause in the sea. The fish that used to go there will no longer appear.” According to Adryane Gorayeb, head of the Wind Energy Observatory at the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), this is why there are still no offshore wind farms operating below the equator. “The impacts on tropical seas, with ecosystems, currents and depths that are different from the northern seas, are still unknown.” The uncertainty worries fishers, who have been mobilizing against wind farms. The battle against wind farms is not new Surrounded by shrimp farms and a small strip of…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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