This paper records the meaning of the term 'offense' and the folk knowledge related to local beliefs and practices of folk medicine that prevent and treat snake bites, as well as the implications for the conservation of snakes in the county of Pedra Branca, Bahia State, Brazil. The data was recorded from September to November 2006 by means of open-ended interviews performed with 74 individuals of both genders, whose ages ranged from 4 to 89 years old. The results show that the local terms biting, stinging and pricking are synonymous and used as equivalent to offending. All these terms mean to attack. A total of 23 types of 'snakes' were recorded, based on their local names. Four of them are Viperidae, which were considered the most dangerous to humans, besides causing more aversion and fear in the population. In general, local people have strong negative behavior towards snakes, killing them whenever possible. Until the antivenom was present and available, the locals used only charms, prayers and homemade remedies to treat or protect themselves and others from snake bites. Nowadays, people do not pay attention to these things because, basically, the antivenom is now easily obtained at regional hospitals. It is understood that the ethnozoological knowledge, customs and popular practices of the Pedra Branca inhabitants result in a valuable cultural resource which should be considered in every discussion regarding public health, sanitation and practices of traditional medicine, as well as in faunistic studies and conservation strategies for local biological diversity.

Protected areas have become a vital conservation strategy to protect wildlife; however, illegal activities performed by local people within and around protected areas may undermine their conservation goals. We used information from 169 direct interviews with rural residents in order to understand the factors affecting illegal behaviors related to hunting and deforestation in three protected areas and a buffer zone of the Southern Bahian Atlantic Forest. We explored correlations between background factors, attitudes, norms, perceived behavioral control and behaviors toward different motivations for hunting (hunting for consumption, killing animals in retaliation for damage to crops or livestock, and keeping wildlife in captivity as pets), and deforestation based on insights from the Theory of Planned Behavior. Our results suggest that a combination of demographic factors, values held for protected areas and location influenced respondents’ attitudes, descriptive norms, and perceived behavioral control in the study region. We also found that components of the Theory of Planned Behavior such as attitudes and descriptive norms may be good predictors of the studied behaviors. Increasing local support for and compliance with policies of the protected areas is necessary for the long-term efficacy of these areas and for protection of species. Our findings suggest that to change behaviors of residents toward conservation in the study area, management actions should consider people’s attitudes and norms and the combination of background factors that influence these variables.

The local ecological knowledge (LEK) of fishermen has been applied to reconstruct temporal patterns of resource abundance and to assess resource exploitation, especially in tropical ecosystems. Protected areas (PAs) are the main conservation measure in the Amazon, but their efficacy to improve fisheries is poorly known. The main goal of this study was to apply fishermen’ LEK to evaluate temporal changes in composition and abundance of exploited fish species among three different categories of PAs in the Tapajós River, Brazilian Amazon. We interviewed 203 fishers about their highest fish catches, and the main fish caught at two time periods: the beginning of their fishing careers and currently. Fishers’ LEK indicated decreases in citations of larger‐bodied fishes and in reported catches over time, evidencing a gradient of conservation according to PA's time of establishment and management rules. We noticed higher changes (reduced catches and smaller fish exploited) in the Environmental PA, established 10 years ago and lacking management plan and buffer zone. In National Forest, which was created 40 years ago with more restrictive management rules, fish composition and catches included larger commercial fish. The Extractive Reserve, which was created 15 years ago and lacks specific fishing rules, may be in an intermediate stage, as large fish and highest catches decreased over time, but medium and large fish are still exploited. Fishers’ LEK can be an invaluable but neglected source of data on temporal patterns of fishing pressure and conservation needs, especially in tropical megadiverse, poorly known and threatened rivers.