Radical Solution to Save River Dolphins Irritates Fishermen in Amazonas

03/02/2015 - 09h33

The fishing of a species whose sales were growing in Amazonas - the piracatinga, a scavenger catfish - has been banned since the beginning of the year.

The measure aims to protect the river dolphin, whose meat had been used as bait, but it has affected riverside families.

The five-year moratorium in the sales of the piracatinga was a joint decision made by the Fishing and Environmental ministries.

Studies by Inpa (National Institute of Amazonian Research), which follows river dolphins in the region of Mamirauá, show that the annual decline of the species reached 10% in some areas.

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The danger is that it could soon become extinct quickly.

"After it is born, the river dolphin takes seven years to become sexually mature, and it has only one calf per gestation, which lasts eleven months; then it feeds its offspring for two years and looks after it for one more year," says Vera Ferreira da Silva, a researcher at Inpa.

Silva says the need to ban the sales of piracatinga is because the increase in its numbers is directly linked to the fishing of the river dolphin, which is used as bait. As fishermen use river dolphin meat as bait, they don't have to use beef to attract the piracatinga.

However, fishermen who claim not to use river dolphin meat to catch the piracatinga say they have been treated unfairly.

The Federal Prosecutor's Office admits the problem. "The moratorium on the piracatinga will lead to economic losses, and we must acknowledge that some who do the right thing will have to pay for a majority of wrong-doers," says prosecutor Rafael da Silva Rocha.

He says, however, that the responsibility to help fishermen substitute the piracatinga is in the hands of local authorities.

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

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	Anselmo D'Affonsêca/Ampa/Divulgação
	The measure aims to protect the river dolphin, whose meat had been used as bait, but it has affected riverside families