Biodiversidade e conservação do pirarucu.

Abstract

Brazil is a country rich in fauna and flora diversity, including aquatic biodiversity. The pirarucu, which can reach up to three meters, is one of the main means of subsistence and supply of food for indigenous communities that depend on the Amazonian rivers to survive. Known as the 'Amazon codfish', this giant almost ran the risk of extinction due to overfishing, which had consequences for the species' population size, threatening genetic diversity. This caused the animal to have its fishing prohibited in some states of the Amazon. The predatory fishing of pirarucu puts the survival of the species at risk, as it is practiced excessively. Faced with the threat of extinction, some projects for the conservation and sustainable management of the pirarucu have emerged, causing the species to return to populate the rivers of the North region. The first community management initiative for pirarucu occurred in 1999, in the Lamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve. Today this project takes place in 14 municipalities in Amazonas, but the initiative is still unknown in several other regions of Brazil, mainly in some riverside communities.