Transportation of tambaqui juveniles (Colossoma macropomum) in Amazon: main problems

摘要

Tambaqui (pronounced 'tom-bahkey'), Colossoma macropomum, is a fish from the Amazon and the Orinoco basin that occurs in Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia and is an icon of the Amazon (Araujo-Lima and Goulding 1997). Because of the socio-economic role of fisheries in the region, the high market demand and its yield, tambaqui is one of the most important local fish (Saint-Paul 1990). Tambaqui is also the Amazonian native fish, which has the largest database of husbandry, and the one withthe best farming success (Saint-Paul 1986, Araujo-Lima and Goulding 1997). It is raised in Brazil, Equador, Panama, Peru, Venezuela and Colombia (Chellappa et al. 1995) with good results. The North of Brazil offers several advantages over other regions.The availability of juveniles is continuous throughout the year, because it is possible to maintain and obtain different batches of fish at different maturation stages year around. The growth rate in ponds is good due to the relatively high water temperature (Araujo-Lima and Goulding 1997). Therefore, tambaqui farming is booming in the region.