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FM
Former Member

UNDP-funded survey underway to determine numerical status of giant Arapaima fish

By Clifford Stanley, Wednesday, 22 January 2014, Source

UNDP-funded survey underway to determine numerical status of giant Arapaima fish

 

THE numerical status of the giant arapaima fish in its habitat in the North Rupununi wetlands is currently the subject of a survey funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Members of the North Rupununi District Development Board (NRDDB), which is conducting the survey, have said they intend to release the results shortly.


Since the 1960s, concerns have been expressed about the fate of the fish, and the need for it to be protected. During that time, it was disclosed that the arapaima, which inhabits the Rupununi, was being ruthlessly harvested and sold across the border in Brazil, mostly by Amerindians.


The Guiana Graphic newspaper dated March 10 1963 had warned that unless something drastic was done, the then B.G would have lost a very valuable species.


The NRDDB was one of eight local civil society organisations (CSOs) which were recently awarded grants for environmental and livelihood benefits to communities under the UNDP/Global Environment Facility (GEF), Small Grants Programme (SGP). The NRDDB received the sum of Gy$9.8M to strengthen the capacities of its 16 Amerindian communities to manage the arapaima fish and fisheries of the North Rupununi wetlands via capacity building, arapaima surveys, conservation education and awareness, consultations, and development of management plans.


Richardson Haynes, the Fisheries Project Coordinator of the NRDDB survey, said the survey is being done rigorously. He stressed the specialness of the arapaima (arapaima gigas). The fish is one of the largest fresh water fish species in the world, grows as long as three metres (almost ten feet), and can weigh up to 200 kilogrammes (over 440 pounds). Moreover, the species is very rare.


Haynes said that fish is an essential resource for the Makushi in the North Rupununi. “As communities and populations grow, there are increasing pressures on the fisheries resource.”


He reiterated that the NRDDB has been working towards fisheries management and arapaima management, to ensure the livelihoods of the people in the North Rupununi.


The North Rupununi Wetlands encompass 16 Amerindian communities in an area that reaches Katoka Village on the Rupununi River in the south to Apoteri Village on the Essequibo River in the North. Overall, these wetlands are more than 11,460 square km or 1,146,000 hectares.


Mr Ian Kissoon, GEF Small Grants Programme National Coordinator of the UNDP programme, recently disclosed that in respect to the Grant to the NRDDB, the SGP seeks to generate sustainable livelihoods, reduce poverty, and create community empowerment.

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The Arapaima fish exists not only in Guyana but in Brazil's Amazon river system too. It is the largest fresh-water fish in South America.

"The status of the arapaima population in the Amazon River Basin is unknown, hence it is listed on the IUCN red list as Data Deficient. It is difficult to conduct a population census in so large an area, and it is also problematic to monitor catches in a trade that is largely illegal. There is a scope for captive breeding and reintroduction to the wild in effort to increase the population." [Wikipedia]

File:Stamp British Guiana 1954 72c.jpg

FM

Is the Arapaima fish eatable? I never saw one up close or tasted it before, but every time I heard about Arapaima, fish curry come to mind.

FM
Last edited by Former Member
Originally Posted by Cobra:

Is the Arapaima fish eatable? I never saw one up close or tasted it before, but every time I heard about Arapaima, fish curry come to mind.

Cobra, it's a delicious fish. I ate it many years ago. Some of my hunting and fishing friends had caught one.

It may interest you to know that there is a stuffed arapaima in a glass case in the Guyana Museum.

FM
Last edited by Former Member
Originally Posted by Cobra:

Is the Arapaima fish eatable?I never saw one up close or tasted it before, but every time I heard about Arapaima, fish curry come to mind.

It can be eaten, Cobra.

 

While I was in the remote jungle parts of Guyana on exploration works, my huntsmen caught a couple.

FM
Originally Posted by Demerara_Guy:
Originally Posted by Cobra:

Is the Arapaima fish eatable?I never saw one up close or tasted it before, but every time I heard about Arapaima, fish curry come to mind.

It can be eaten, Cobra.

 

While I was in the remote jungle parts of Guyana on exploration works, my huntsmen caught a couple.

I ate arapaima meat in metem/metagee with cassava, plantain, dumplings and coconut milk. Real tasty!

FM
Originally Posted by Demerara_Guy:
Originally Posted by Cobra:

Is the Arapaima fish eatable?I never saw one up close or tasted it before, but every time I heard about Arapaima, fish curry come to mind.

It can be eaten, Cobra.

 

While I was in the remote jungle parts of Guyana on exploration works, my huntsmen caught a couple.

My huntsmen!!!...lookie here at Rahim!!!

FM

Huntsman spider

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Huntsman spider
Palystes castaneus, showing Sparassid pattern of eyes in two rows of four, with the robust build and non-clavate pedipalps of a female.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Arthropoda
Class:Arachnida
Order:Araneae
Section:Entelegynae
Superfamily:Sparassoidea
Family:Sparassidae
<small>Bertkau, 1872</small>
Diversity
82 genera, 1009 species
istribution.sparassidae.1.png">

Sparassidae (formerly Heteropodidae) are a family of spiders known as huntsman spiders because of their speed and mode of hunting. They also are called giant crab spiders because of their size and appearance. Larger species sometimes are referred to as wood spiders, because of their preference for woody places (forest, mine shafts, woodpiles, wooden shacks). In southern Africa the genus Palystes are known as rain spiders or lizard-eating spiders.[1] Commonly they are confused with baboon spiders from the Mygalomorphae infraorder, which are not closely related.

More than a thousand Sparassidae species occur in most warm temperate to tropical regions of the world, including much of Australasia, Africa, Asia, the Mediterranean Basin, and the Americas.[2]

 

 

 

Lord DG of Da Huntsman spiders tarass.

 

 

 

 

cain

I have been in the jungle areas on the Guyana-Brazil border and I have talked to some guys who ate the fish but I never met any guy who caught the fish.  How do you catch a 400 pound fish

FM
Originally Posted by Wally:

I have been in the jungle areas on the Guyana-Brazil border and I have talked to some guys who ate the fish but I never met any guy who caught the fish.  How do you catch a 400 pound fish

Big net and spears.

FM
Originally Posted by Wally:

I have been in the jungle areas on the Guyana-Brazil border and I have talked to some guys who ate the fish but I never met any guy who caught the fish.  How do you catch a 400 pound fish

Ask Nehru or maybe Rev, I hear dem boys love their women dem BIG.

cain
Last edited by cain
Originally Posted by Wally:

I have been in the jungle areas on the Guyana-Brazil border and I have talked to some guys who ate the fish but I never met any guy who caught the fish.  How do you catch a 400 pound fish

Very strong line, with a huge hook and a very large fish as a bait.

 

Because of the size and strength of the fish, the end of the rope is usually tied firmly to a big and strong tree.

 

Eventually, when the arapaima swallows the fish and bait, it swims and goes through numerous movements, travelling is erractic directions.  Because the end of the line is securely tied to the tree, the huntsman/fisherman simply waits and monitor the movement of the fish.

 

Eventually, after a very long time when the fish in extremely tired, the huntsman/fisherman, with patience, slowly pulls in the line to secure the fish.

FM

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