Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Fish Farm Concessions for Government Dams

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 24 2007 (IPS) - Brazil's Fisheries and Aquaculture Secretariat is offering concessions for raising fish in areas near dams and other public water bodies, with the aim of legalizing the status of clandestine fisherfolk. It involves “offering the fishers the opportunity for a legal solution instead of punishing them,” Aquaculture director Felipe Matias told Tierramérica.

The first concessions announced cover five areas in Itaipú, an immense hydroelectric dam shared with Paraguay. There are to be four more concession distribution processes in the next year.

Just one percent of Brazil's water resources can be used for raising fish, but it would be enough to double the existing 150,000 aquaculturists.

Traditional fishers can obtain concessions free of charge, but fishing companies will have to pay for the right to use the public resource.

The food not consumed by the farmed fish could trigger the proliferation of aquatic plants and drive up costs of water treatment, warns Jackson Pantoja, scientist with the National Institute of Amazon Research.