Slideshow: Life along Brazil’s Doce River, six months after history’s largest spill of mining waste
All photos by Andres Camacho. Hear/read his accompanying radio report here.
Click any thumbnail image to launch slideshow.
Julho gets the boat ready to go out fishing while his son swims in the Doce River. Six months after the collapse of the Fundão dam, and the release of 62 million cubic meters of mine tailings, the river is still stained orange.
Julho uses a dinner plate to guide the boat in quietly to where he will cast his net.
Julho pulls in his net, called a “tarrafa.”
A day’s catch of tilapia from the contaminated Doce River.
Julho’s son, Diorna, holds up an animal skull that washed downriver.
Zezinho Pescador or “Fisherman Little Z.”
One of Zezinho’s earliest fishing licenses. He has been fishing the Doce River for more than 60 years.
Family photos from better fishing days on the Doce River.
A younger Julho holds a Tabaqui, one of the native species of the Doce River.
Scientists have yet to measure the impact of the spill on fish populations. Marquinhos holds a Curimba, another native specie of the river. Based on how much Curimba he catches now, Marquinhos estimates that 70 percent of that species was killed by the mine spill.
Marquinhos is Zezinho’s son. He currently has 700 kilos of fish that no one wants to buy.
Muddy mine waste washed over their island and destroyed their fields of vegetables. The mud has now dried and solidified.
Marquinhos and Jeane have a home on an island in the Doce River. They rely on the river for their water, food and income.
