Arapaima  (Arapaima gigas)

The need to regularly surface for air means the arapaima, which can yield as much as 70 kilograms of high quality meat (5), is an easy target for fisherman in the shallow waters of the Amazon floodplain (8) (9). Indeed, it formed a significant part of the diet of the indigenous people of the Amazon Basin and was first marketed commercially in the late 18th century (8) (9). However, in the 1960s, following two centuries of extensive exploitation, the arapaima started to become scarce, and by the 1970s was commercially extinct in the vicinity of major Amazonian cities. In 2001, all commercial fishing of arapaima was banned in Brazil outside of a limited number of sustainable reserves, but illegal fishing still continues (8) (15).

The status of the arapaima population in the Amazon basin is unknown and consequently the species is listed as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List (1) (15). The financial costs of conducting a population census over such a colossal area are prohibitive and monitoring catches is problematic in a trade that is largely illegal (15). Nonetheless, recent studies have been able to show that despite ongoing exploitation, there remain areas with high levels of genetic diversity, particularly within sustainable reserves. From a conservation perspective it has been suggested that increasing the number of sustainable reserves throughout the Amazon will provide a source for re-population of depleted populations in poorly controlled areas (8) (9). Should the need ever arise in the long-term, there is also scope for reintroduction of Arapaima to the wild from successful captive breeding programs (8).