Biodiversity and fisheries management in the Paraná River Basin: successes and failures

Abstract

Biodiversity and fishery management are topics not well considered in the upper Paraná River. Biodiversity losses have been, in large part, due to anthropogenic actions, such as overfishing and dam construction. Unfortunately, in the past, fisheries management decisions were not evaluated or monitored for success. Recent studies have shown that if several of these management actions had been abandoned at an earlier date, considerable money, time and effort would have been saved. In this paper we presents the main fishery management actions taken in the Paraná River and link them to biodiversity concerns. -

If biodiversity is to be maintained in the upper Paraná River, fisheries management will need to shift to an ecosystem approach. This will require: -

1) Consideration of biological and ecosystem factors including, water quality, the food web, biotic and abiotic interactions, and population and communities structures. -

2) Regularization of dam discharge to levels similar to observed natural levels. -

3) Protection of the river, including all the different areas of the basin needed by different species to complete their life cycle. -