- Written by Bob Howard
- BBC Podcast: Across the Continent
image source, Getty Images
It can grow up to 4 meters long and weigh more than 200 kg.
Guillermo Otta Palmu has been fishing his entire life in the Bolivian Amazon for over 50 years.
At first, Guillermo caught various species of catfish and other native fish that live in the river.
But then along came the giant freshwater fish, locally known as Paiche or Arapipeuma gigas, which gave it its scientific name.
“I thought this creature was a water snake. I thought it would attack everything, that it would be bad for you to eat, and that it might be poisonous,” he recalls.
In fact, it is one of the world’s largest freshwater fish, growing up to 4 meters long and weighing over 200 kg (440 lb).
Guillermo Otta Palm has been a fisherman for 50 years.
Paiche is estimated to spread an additional 40 km deeper into rivers in the Amazon basin each year.
Federico Moreno, director of the Aquatic Resources Research Center at the Autonomous University of Beni, said their size and appetite pose a serious threat to native fish stocks.
“It’s a territorial fish, it takes over bodies of water and it scares away native species. [That] This is one of the serious problems. Other species flee from predators and enter other bodies of water farther away, more remote and difficult to access. ”
No one knows the exact year when paiche first appeared in Bolivia.
It is generally believed that the arrival of this fish is the result of an invasion of paiche farms in Peru, where the fish originates. From there they spread to the rivers of Bolivia.
Biologist Fernando Carvajal spent years studying paiche.
Fernando Carvajal is a biologist and paiche expert. He says they are a greedy species.
“Paiches grow at a rate of 10 kg per year for the first few years of life, which means they eat a lot of fish.”
Unlike other predatory fish such as piranhas, the teeth are small and not particularly sharp.
But the lack of impressive teeth doesn’t stop them from picking up and eating piranhas and many other fish, plants, mollusks, and birds like giant vacuum cleaners.
It also scares away the fish that try to eat the paiche babies.
Fernando Carvajal said there is no hard data on the impact of paiche, but anecdotally fishermen have reported declining numbers of some native species.
“In the next 10 or 20 years, paiche will spread to all possible areas where this species can live,” he warns.
“Across the world, we know that most invasive cases have a negative impact on nature. Invasive species are considered the second biggest reason for biodiversity loss after habitat destruction. Masu.”
But for local fishermen, the arrival of paiche was a boon. Guillermo Otta Palm said fishermen were initially afraid of it, but it didn’t take long for them to realize its potential.
Paiche fishing boat on the Yata River in the Bolivian Amazon
“When we first brought the fish, we gave the customers a small fillet so they could taste it.”
To allay public suspicions about eating such a huge specimen, some fishermen pretended it was a type of catfish.
Today, paiche is eaten throughout Bolivia.
Edson Suzano runs a paiche processing factory in Liberalta, a town in northeastern Bolivia near the Brazilian border.
Edson Suzano (left) says Paiche is affordable.
“We sell it everywhere, including supermarkets and markets. It comes in different cuts, so it’s affordable. We buy and process about 30,000 kg every month,” he says.
The challenge for fishermen is finding paiche in the vast Amazon River.
This fish prefers calm water, as it has lung-like organs and needs to take in air regularly to breathe. They prefer to live in lakes and lagoons, but will move if they feel threatened.
image source, Getty Images
Paiche moves when it feels threatened.
Most of the fish Edson Silvano processes used to be transported by boat.
Fishermen now have to travel to increasingly remote areas to catch paiche, switching from boats to canoes and traveling for up to two weeks. This puts them at odds with indigenous communities.
These communities have been given land titles to many of the remote lagoons where paiche currently reside, and have begun fishing and selling paiche themselves.
Paiche being prepared for sale at the Liberalta fish market
Currently, commercial fishermen must obtain special permits to work in these areas. But fishermen like Guillermo Otta Palmu say they are often turned away, even if they have the right documents.
Indigenous communities say they are simply trying to protect resources that the Bolivian government recognizes as their right to control.
Juan Carlos Ortiz Chávez is a paixe fisherman belonging to the Alto Yvon Tico Chacobo indigenous community.
Juan Carlos Ortiz Chavez belongs to the Alto Ibom Tico Chacobo indigenous community.
In the past, indigenous people were afraid of commercial fishermen, he says. “But this new generation of young people has changed, because they have set rules so that people can’t come and take it away from us anymore,” he explains.
Scientists like Federico Moreno hope that fishing in general, regardless of who does the fishing, will keep paiche numbers in check.
“If we keep hunting them and keep fishing them, we might maintain a balance between the different species.”