The creation of the Alcatrazes Wildlife Refuge on August 2, 2016, had been awaited by the environmental movement for almost 30 years. The environmental importance of this archipelago, located on the north coast of São Paulo, is widely known by the scientific community and civil society.

Right after the installation of this REVIS, a Management Plan prepared and published in record time, on May 17, 2017, brought the forecast of public visitation for this natural heritage.

Following the movements of the region, the Instituto Linha D'Água started, then, a partnership with the Institute of the Sea of the Federal University of São Paulo, Campus Baixada Santista (IMAR / UNIFESP), to guarantee the accomplishment of the necessary researches before the place was open to the public.

This is because, since 2015, LABECMar - Unifesp has been monitoring the marine biodiversity of Alcatrazes based on the installation of fixed plots monitoring the benthic communities in 3 regions of the archipelago. inside and outside the Tupinambás Ecological Station. With the creation of the Refuge, some areas were opened for visitation and with that it was necessary to invest even more in this monitoring.

In this sense, the support offered was aimed at promoting scientific, didactic and educational exchanges in research and environmental education projects between local actors and research institutes.

From the first studies, in December 2017, an expedition managed to obtain the baselines of the structure of the fish assemblages and the benthic community of the areas that would be open to the public for contemplative diving.

Then, in October 2018, a second campaign was carried out to ensure the safety of these areas and the conservation of their species to start tourism activities by integrating people and nature in the most sustainable way possible, ensuring the well-being of all.

Then, the project was developed, with expeditions in each of the seasons of the year, to monitor fish assemblages and benthic organisms.

With this, the results obtained provided the baselines for the long-term monitoring of the Alcatrazes Refuge, making it possible to assess the seasonal fluctuations in biodiversity and the impacts that the visitation could have on them, facilitating the planning of the tourism activities implemented.