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What is the most sustainable system for fish production in the Amazon Basin?

There is a need of increasing fish production due to the rapidly growing population. The Amazon basin has around 1 million km2 of freshwater area, and a substantial part could be an ideal base for the development of the fish rearing industry. Currently, small-scale fish farming and fishery is commonly observed in the Amazon Basin, but these systems can negatively impact the environment, for example, via eutrophication and overfishing. Here I compare several fish production systems reported for the Amazon Basin to evaluate what is the most sustainable system that should be preferably implemented in that region. I also analyzed the potential of expanding fish farming at the Amazon basin, including a suggestion of the kind of the Amazonian water type and the fish species that should preferentially be recommended as the most appropriate for sustainable production. Blackwater and clearwater main tributaries have been pointed out as the most appropriate areas for fish farming and are recommended as the potential base of fish farming. As there is an existing market for the fishes Colossoma macropomum (Tambaqui); Arapaima gigas (Pirarucu) and Piaractus mesopotamicus (Pacu), these have been pointed out as the main species to start a sustainable fish production. The analysis of the fish production systems was performed in a way to allow a proper combination of the water self-purification mechanism and the fish culture industry. My main suggestion for sustainable fish production is that: a) fish rearing location should be changed on a yearly basis in order to decrease the local environmental impact. Water self-purification mechanisms are suggested as the main process to help to ameliorate the environmental impacts of fish farming. b) Tree seeds and fruits from 26 types of trees that naturally grow in the Amazon basin should be used for fish feeding, especially for tambaqui and pacu.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:liu-167387
Date January 2020
CreatorsChao, Han
PublisherLinköpings universitet, Institutionen för tema
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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