Brazil's mangroves on the front line of climate change

Vandeka, wife of fisherman Jose da Cruz, harvests mangrove oysters on the Caratingui river, in Cairu, state of Bahia, Brazil, April 5, 2019. REUTERS/Nacho Doce

CAIRU, Brazil (Reuters) - Fishermen like Jose da Cruz have made their living for decades hunting for crabs among Brazil's vast coastal mangrove forests, dense thickets of twisted plants in deep black mud that grow where fresh-water rivers meet the brackish Atlantic Ocean.

Cruz, who is known by the nickname Vampire because of his distinctive teeth, doesn't use a rod and reel or a net. Instead he parks his two-foot-wide boat at the shore of the Caratingui river and wends his way on foot through the tangle of mangroves to dig out crabs with his hands from the dark muck.