Algodoal-Maiandeua Environmental Protection Area

Algodoal-Maiandeua Environmental Protection Area
Área de Proteção Ambiental de Algodoal-Maiandeua
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
Maiandeua island
Nearest city	Maracanã, Pará
Coordinates	0°36′49″S 47°33′45″W / 0.613526°S 47.562458°W / -0.613526; -47.562458Coordinates: 0°36′49″S 47°33′45″W / 0.613526°S 47.562458°W / -0.613526; -47.562458
Area	3,100 ha (12 sq mi)
Designation	Environmental protection area
Created	27 November 1990
Administrator	Instituto de Desenvolvimento Florestal e da Biodiversidade do Estado do Pará

The Algodoal-Maiandeua Environmental Protection Area (Portuguese: Área de Proteção Ambiental de Algodoal-Maiandeua) is an environmental protection area in the state of Pará, Brazil. It protects two coastal islands with beaches, dunes, mangroves and wetlands that are home to fishing people and are popular with tourists.

The Algodoal-Maiandeua Environmental Protection Area is in the municipality of Maracanã, Pará. It is on the northeast coast of Pará in the Salgado microregion. The Atlantic Ocean is to the north and the Mocooca channel to the south. The Maracanã River estuary is to the east and the Marapanim River estuary to the west. The APA is bounded to the south by the Maracanã Marine Extractive Reserve. The Mestre Lucindo Marine Extractive Reserve is opposite the APA to the west.

The APA has an area of about 3,100.34 hectares (7,661.1 acres) and consists of two islands separated by an intermittent tidal channel called the Furo Velho. Algodoal Island has 605.52 hectares (1,496.3 acres) and contains Algodoal village, Princesa Beach, Farol Beach and areas of mangroves, restingas and dunes. The island and the largest village are named "Algodoal" after a native plant, the algodão de seda. Maiandeua island has 2,494.82 hectares (6,164.8 acres) and holds the villages of Fortalezinha, Mocooca and Camboinha, the localities of Camaleão, Passagem and Pedra Chorona, and beaches, mangroves and terra firme areas with vegetation. The villages are separated by areas of mangroves and tidal channels.

The village of Algodoal can be reached by boat from the port of Marudá, a journey of about 40 minutes depending on the tide. A boat from the municipality of Maracanã can cross the Mocooca channel to the village of Mocooca in 5 minutes.

Fishermen from whom the present inhabitants are descended seem to have first moved to the island of Algodoal in the 1920s. The Algodoal-Maiandeua Environmental Protection Area was created by law 5.621 of 27 November 1990, covering the islands of Algodoal with 385 hectares (950 acres) and Maiandeua with 1,993 hectares (4,920 acres), making a total of 2,378 hectares (5,880 acres).