- The Madeira Basin has the most diverse fish life in the Amazon River Basin with 1,406 species catalogued, but human interference and the climate crisis are provoking a significant decline in fish stocks.
- According to scientists, the Madeira hydropower plants have affected the hydrological cycle downstream due to irregular pulses, impacting the migratory patterns of fish.
- These disturbances have reduced the annual catch of fishers by 39% in the municipality of Humaitá.
- In the Madeira River, fishing became more costly and demanding, with fishers needing to spend more days and travel farther to spots to maintain decent productivity, which led many riverines to illegal activities.
HUMAITÁ, Brazil — At dawn, 20 fishers received a tip that matrinxãs were swimming down the Aripuanã River toward the Madeira, the Amazon Basin’s largest tributary. It was their opportunity to interrupt a week of unproductive fishing in Novo Aripuanã, a municipality in southern Amazonas …