Shellfish
Did you know that around 5,000 people make a living from mariculture (shellfish farming) in Ribeirão da Ilha, a neighborhood of Florianópolis? The activity occupies almost 100 hectares of calm and shallow waters in the bays on the southern contour of Santa Catarina Island, the island part of Florianópolis. The characteristics of Florianópolis are good for mollusks. France is a great producer, dominates technologies and teaches the world. However, its waters are 6 meters deeper than ideal and poor in nutrients.
The Island, in turn, has shallow waters, up to one and a half meters, nourished by currents that bring food from the rivers and rain from the neighboring Serra do Mar, on the mainland. Thus, the Santa Catarina oyster gains weight in six months what the French oyster takes up to 3 years.
