Thaís Brianezi
Reporter Agência Brasil

Manaus – The Osteoglossum bicirrhosum (aruanã branco), an Amazon River fish, is at the center of a dispute between Brazil and Colombia which Henrique Pereira dos Santos, the executive manager of Natural Resources at the Brazilian Environmental Protection Institute (Ibama), says has become a "diplomatic incident."

The aruanã branco travels up and down the Amazon River and that is the problem. When the fish reach the furtherest point on their travels up the river, the Colombians capture baby aruanãs and export them as ornamental tropical fish, mainly to Japan, where they are cultural symbols and bring in good prices. Further down the river, in Brazil, the full-sized adult aruanã is an important element in the diet of riverside inhabitants.

Further complicating the situation is the fact that baby aruanãs are raised by their parents; capturing the babies means killing the parents. A sharp drop in the number of aruanãs has been noted and this has caused Brazilians authorities, for the first time, to prohibit fishing them between September 1 and November 15. The Colombians have also decided to protect the aruanã, but will prohibit capturing them between November 1 and March 15.

The dispute, ornamental fish exports versus food, will be discussed at a seminar this month, from the 24th to the 26th, in Bogota, that will bring together representatives from Brazil, Colombia, Guiana, Peru and Venezuela. The event is sponsored by the WWF and the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization.

"We have conflicting legislation in different countries. We would like to get other countries to be more protective. They should be less liberal about exporting ornamental fish, for example," says Santos.

Translator: Allen Bennett