Fish consumption on the Amazon: a review of biodiversity, hydropower and food security issues

Abstract The lack of knowledge about the majority of fish species harvested in Amazonian small-scale fisheries, in association with impacts from hydroelectric power plants, may lead to biodiversity loss and a decrease in the protein food supply for riverine Amazonians. This study uses existing datasets on fisheries and riverine developmental projects to infer effects associated with fish losses where actual data and outcomes are not available. The targeted fish species’ status may be regarded as either threatened or there being no knowledge of their conservation requirements, biology or ecology. Among the 90 Amazonian fish species that are the most important for the diet of the riverine fishers, 78% are not assessed or their biological information is unknown, according to the IUCN Red List. Consequently, the effects created by the thoroughly disregarded trade-off between energy generation and food security in the planning of Amazonian land use have been worsened by the lack of biological and ecological information on fish species.

摘要 亚马逊流域小型捕捞渔业中绝大多数被捕获鱼类的相关认知匮乏，再叠加水力发电站带来的环境影响，可能引发生物多样性丧失，并削减亚马逊沿河居民的蛋白质食物供给。本研究依托现有渔业与沿河开发项目数据集，在缺乏实际观测数据与对应结果的场景下，推演鱼类种群损失所引发的关联影响。本研究聚焦的鱼类种群，其现状或处于受威胁状态，或是相关保护需求、生物学与生态学信息均未被探明。据国际自然保护联盟濒危物种红色名录（IUCN Red List）统计，在对沿河渔民饮食至关重要的90种亚马逊鱼类中，78%的物种未被评估，或是其生物学信息完全缺失。因此，在亚马逊土地利用规划中，能源开发与粮食安全之间的权衡关系被完全忽视，而鱼类种群生物学与生态学信息的匮乏进一步加剧了这一问题所带来的负面影响。