The construction of the houses and the monitoring plan are advances towards the implementation of community-based management of arapaima that has been articulated in the region.
By Camila Figueiredo and Clara Machado
During the month of February, between the 1st and the 23rd, an expedition was carried out to build houses for surveillance and monitoring of lakes in six communities in the municipality of Itamarati (AM).
The surveillance houses were built in the São Brás, Vista Alegre, Quiriru, Cantagalo, Walterburi and Nova Olinda communities, in partnership with Instituto Juruá, the Environmental Association, Extractivists, Fishermen and Rural Producers of Itamarati (AAEPPRI) and the Municipal Environment Secretariat from Itamarati.
This is another big and important step for the municipality that is on the way to homologate the Fisheries Agreement. Edimar Costa, a Technician in Sustainable Production at Instituto Juruá who supervised the construction of the houses, says: “this work of building the houses is to reinforce and continue the work that has already been done for at least three years counting arapaima in the lakes. The idea is that community members can monitor the lakes and increase the fish population in these environments, also ensuring food security for the communities and, in the future, carry out the management of arapaima and tambaqui to make up for the shortage of these fish in the market in the municipality of Itamarati”.
Local residents, communities, and community leaders actively participated in the construction of the houses. The work required a lot of determination and engagement from the participants, who worked throughout the whole process of sawing wood, carpentry, painting, among others. “When we were building the houses, we saw the efforts of the leaders and the community members, and you could see the sparkle in their eyes and the happiness for one more step on the work we’re doing”, says Edimar.
To start the surveillance activities, on April 13 and 14, Instituto Juruá, AAEPPRI and Itamarati Municipal Environment Secretariat teams gathered the communities of Cantagalo, Walterburi and Nova Olinda to create the surveillance and monitoring plan for the lakes, implementing the monitors rotation calendar for this year.
With the construction of the houses and the surveillance plan, the communities will be able to protect the lakes and move towards an effective beginning of arapaima management in the region, guaranteeing food security for many families, once the protection also benefits other species of aquatic animals.
