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Arapaima
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=== Conservation === Arapaima are particularly vulnerable to overfishing because of their size and because they must surface periodically to breathe. Some 7000 tons per year were taken from 1918 to 1924, the height of commercial arapaima fishing; demand led to farming of the fish by native ''[[ribeirinhos]]''.<ref>''[[River Monsters]]'' episode name: "Unhooked", Animal Planet, 16 July 2010 10AM PDT.</ref> As efforts at restricting catches were largely unsuccessful, arapaima fishing was banned outright in Brazil in 1996, due to declining populations. Indeed, a 2014 study found that the fish were depleted or [[overexploited]] at 93% of the sites examined and well-managed or unfished in only 7%; the fish appeared to be [[Local extinction|extirpated]] in 19% of these sites.<ref name = "Castello2014">{{Cite journal | last1 = Castello | first1 = L. | last2 = Arantes | first2 = C. C. | last3 = Mcgrath | first3 = D. G. | last4 = Stewart | first4 = D. J. | last5 = De Sousa | first5 = F. S. | title = Understanding fishing-induced extinctions in the Amazon | journal = Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems | date = 2014-08-13 | volume = 25 | issue = 5 | pages = 587–598 | doi = 10.1002/aqc.2491}}</ref><ref name = "Gough2014">{{cite web | last = Gough | first = Z. | title = Giant Amazon fish 'locally extinct' due to overfishing | work = BC Nature | publisher = [[BBC]] | date = 2014-08-13 | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/28705053 | access-date = 2014-08-15 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140814081501/http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/28705053 | archive-date = 2014-08-14}}</ref> The status of the arapaima population in the Amazon River Basin is unknown, hence it is listed on the [[IUCN red list]] as [[data deficient]]. Conducting a population census in so large an area is difficult, as is monitoring catches in a trade that was once largely [[illegal fishing|unregulated]]. Since 1999, both subsistence and commercial fishing have been permitted in specially designated areas under a sophisticated sustainable management strategy. This approach has led to massive recovery of once-depleted stocks; in a sampling of 10 areas conducted using traditional counting methods, the population was found to have grown from 2,500 in 1999 to over 170,000 in 2017.<ref name=Mamirauá>{{cite book |author=Gonçalves ACT, Cunha J, Batista JS |year=2018 |title=The Amazonian Giant: Sustainable Management of Arapaima (Pirarucu) |place=Tefé, Amazonas |publisher=Mamirauá Institute for Sustainable Development |isbn=978-85-88758-77-3 |url=https://www.mamiraua.org.br/documentos/4163f5aaff5d05e1a9e1804bb5e06307.pdf |access-date=2020-05-05}}</ref> [[Colombia]] only bans fishing and consumption of the arapaima between October 1 and March 15, during breeding season.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ica.gov.co/getdoc/a7e40c46-1243-45a9-80d4-c52097320b2b/vedas.aspx|title=Vedas|website=ica.gov.co|access-date=22 April 2018|archive-date=5 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305032654/http://www.ica.gov.co/getdoc/a7e40c46-1243-45a9-80d4-c52097320b2b/vedas.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> <!-- clarify There is a scope for captive breeding and reintroduction to the wild in effort to increase the population. -->
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