April 28, 2006

Update 15: Fishing for Endangered Species?

Daily Dilemma #15

Survival of the fittest?

As we travel through many communities in the rainforest, we have found that most people earn money by fishing. They use huge nets and catch hundreds of fish, and then sell them in some of the larger towns: smoked, salted, dried, or fresh. That is a great way to make a living, however, it doesn't seem so great to us when we see fish like the endangered Arapaima and Arawana being mass harvested and sold. Then again, we are saddened by the poverty that we see as we travel through these rural rainforest villages. It seems like the poverty would only get worse if the people couldn't profit off of fishing.

Within the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve, fishing is regulated by scientists and conservationists. This is not the case in the rest of this massive rainforest, however, and fish populations are suffering.

This is quite a dilemma, because fishing is one of the only sources of income for most people in the rainforest. If they didn't fish for the Arapaima and Arawana, they might suffer without food and money. The communities already have very little money, and if they lose their largest source of income, fishing, how will they survive? But then again, if people continue to fish for these valuable animals, the paiche, arawana, and turtles will become extinct.

A great solution would be to put conservationists in every area of the rainforest to monitor fishing, like they do at Lake El Dorado. Unfortunately, this solution isn't very feasible due to lack of money and resources in the area. Do you have any thoughts or ideas on how to handle this delicate situation?

We are definitely stumped on this one!

Love for the animals AND the people,

Anna