CAMBA, Meeko Angela R.

2014-09379
BA Journalism

Amazon's Biggest Fish Faces Threat of Extinction

Written by: Elizabeth Palermo

Synthesis
The largest freshwater fish in the whole South America is now facing the
threat of extinction. Measuring up to 10 feet long and weighing about 180
kilograms, the population of arapaima (Arapaima gigas), or commonly known as the
pirarucu, seems to be depleting. These fish are unique in the sense that they house
a primitive lung that allows them to breathe air, a result from living in oxygen-poor
waterways. They breathe every 5 to 15 minutes which is also the reason why these
fish are very easy to spotted and caught. The arapaima are over-exploited in
general by the local fishermen and fishing communities, but the blame is also to be
shared by policy-makers. Government officials tend to follow a bioeconomic way
of thinking where they see scarcity as a tool to drive up fishing costs, which would
increase price and help save depleted species. But in this case, this theory proved
to be false.