May 24 probably does not mean much to you at first sight; not yet anyway. We would like to change that because in fact it happens to be World Fish Migration Day and to celebrate the moment WWF’s Living Amazon Initiative is unfolding a series of activities throughout the month of May to underscore the urgent need to preserve freshwater ecosystems and aquatic species, especially the Amazon’s migratory fish species.
Under a partnership arrangement among WWF, the Nature Conservancy and other organizations known as worldfishmigrationday.com, this movement seeks to show society how relevant and important migratory fish species are all over the world.
In the Amazon, the situation is no different. The free migration of species is of fundamental importance to maintaining fishery stocks in the region. Species such as the Dourada, the Laulao, the Piraiba, the Jau, the Sorubims and the red-tailed catfish and scaled (bony) fish species like the Matrinsham, the Black Pacu, the Peacock Bass and the Red-bellied Pacu as well as cetaceous species like the river dolphins and reptile species like the turtles undertake journeys of thousands of kilometres to spawn, mate and reproduce and to search for new feeding grounds according to the rise and fall of the waters. If they are unable to migrate their populations suffer and may even collapse entirely.
Healthy rivers do more than just ensure the biological diversity of freshwater systems, they play a vital role in maintaining the equilibrium of food chains and of the forests; the forests in turn provide a series of ecological services essential to the existence of life on Earth. Interrupting the natural migratory cycles of the fish will also have a direct effect on entire Amazonian communities that depend on artisanal fishing to feed their families and obtain an income.
We have no built so many artificial barriers in the rivers that we are generating a serious decline in migratory fish species all over the world and in the Amazon in particular. For all those reasons, the Living Amazon Initiative is celebrating and proclaiming the importance of freshwater ecosystems and of the Amazon region species in this month of May with commemorative dates, research work and communication dedicated to the theme.