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TRACKING ARAPAIMA IN THE AMAZON

FECPL Post Doctoral Fellow Dr. Eduardo Martins has just returned from the Amazon after spending a few days visiting Lake Ayapua (located in the Reserva de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Piagaçu-Purus managed by Instituto Piagaçu). Eduardo will be participating in a study on the movement ecology of arapaima (Arapaima gigas) – a large (up to 3 m), obligatory air-breather fish and one of the most important fishery resources in the Amazon.

The objectives of this first trip were to present the research project to the local people, learn about the fishers’ knowledge of arapaima and the study area, map the pools where fishers catch arapaima, and test the telemetry equipment that will be used to track arapaima. Fieldwork to deploy the telemetry equipment and tag arapaima will be conducted in late October 2014. A number of people are involved in this project including researchers from Instituto Piagaçu (Felipe Rossoni, Sannie Brum, Thiago Petersen), Steven Cooke and Leandro Castello (Virginia Tech).

Eduardo Brazil