Ecology, fisheries and fish culture in Amazonia

Abstract

For the Amazonian population, fish is traditionally the most important source of animal protein. Acuna (1865), Spix & Martius (1823–1831), Wallace (1853), Bates (1863), Spruce (1908) and other naturalists and travellers in Amazonia refer to the abundance offish in many Amazonian rivers and stress the importance of aquatic animals like fish, turtles and manatees for the diet of the people. Turtles and manatees have been reduced strongly by hunting during the last decades. They are even considered in danger of extinction (IUCN 1970, 1972). Fish, however, still continue to be as important in the diet of the population as they were in previous centuries. The consumption of fish per capita per year in Manaus is about 55 kg for people with low income. People with medium and high income consume 50.9 kg and 38.4 kg per capita per year, respectively (Giugliano et al. 1978). The consumption of fish by the population living on the banks of whitewater rivers rich in fish may even be higher, whereas it is considerably lower along the recently constructed highways and in the peripheral areas of the Amazon Basin. Fish consumption in Porto Velho, a town on the Rio Madeira, is much lower, because there is a strong influence from large cattle raising areas (Goulding 1979).