Sustainability Amazon Paiche

Considered a delicacy, and rightfully so, by the indigenous people of the amazon basin paiche was greatly over fished. The wild fishery was decimated leaving only a few areas this fish could still be found. This led paiche to be placed on the list of controlled species by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

 

Santiago Alvez is one of many fishermen that captured paiche to sell into the the domestic market who watched their population dwindle. He wanted to find a way to help bring the fish population back to the levels of his childhood where these massive fish could be found in just about every stream, river and lake throughout the amazon. What he did was develop a method to farm raise this fish. After a lot of trial and error he managed to develop a system of using earthen ponds to bread and raise paiche in significant numbers. Santiago could now provide farmed paiche to the market to help relieve pressure on the wild population as well as release fingerlings into the wild to help boost populations.

 

Now for the good news. How often are you told to eat a species to help not only sustain but to grow its wild population? I am guessing this has never happened to you. This however is the case with paiche. As the demand for farmed paiche grows sustainable farming of this fish expands which in turn allows more fingerlings to be release into the wild. Increased production of farmed paiche fills the demand in the market lessening the pressure on wild stocks. Ultimately as more farmed paiche is consumed wild stocks are better off.

 

Growth in the number of sustainable farms raising out paiche in the Amazon basin not only will help the wild stocks to grow but provide great socio economic benefits to many throughout the region. It is a win win all around. You get great

 

All exported paiche must undergo inspection and receive a CITES certificate ensuring only farm raised paiche are harvested and shipped. In addition to this importers of the product must be CITES certified as well. Transparency, documentation and traceablity are key to assuring only farmed paiche is harvested and shipped to customers around the world.