Our programs aim to:

• – Analyze and foster the Barcelos home aquarium fishery and world market.
• – Identify trade barriers, form and engage strategic solutions to preserve and enhance the benefits of the fishery.

Market-based conservation programs:

• – Strengthen critical market pathways by connecting fishers with intermediaries and international commercial stakeholders.

• – Partner with commercial stakeholders to develop and implement marketing plan to make socially and environmentally beneficial aquarium fish most competitive.

• – Develop traceability capacities to link consumers with the outcomes of their purchasing decisions (photos and interviews with the individual fishers that caught their particular fish, Google Earth flyover maps to the region where their fish was collected from, alternative livelihoods that fishers would be forced to shift to if the fishery were to collapse).

Community development and capacity building:

• – Establish Best Handling Practices protocols for fisherfolk to maximize animal welfare and trade value of fishes.

• – Create training curriculum, educational materials, and workshops for fishers, intermediaries, and fish exporters.

• – Work with existing fisherfolk organizations and community groups on information exchange and efforts to alleviate poverty through a strong fish trade with benefits for local communities.

The fishers protect an area the size of Pennsyvania and the UK from development and deforestation (photo: Dan Hosmer)

The fishery provides livelihoods for thousands of people (photos: Mike Tuccinardi)

Fishers collect fish in pristine rivers (photo: Radson)

Fishers use the most basic tools and nets as to not harm the fish (photo: Colin)

Abundant small colorful fish with many offspring are carefully collected (photo: Vinny Deluca)

Each year the rivers drop 30 feet in the drought where some fish die in drying puddles

The fish travel to the export facilities by boat

In transit on the rivers the fish are held in bins (photo: Nora Hickey)

In transit on the rivers, fish are held in bins (photo: Steve Heisey)

Fish are held at transfer stations along the rivers (photo Adriano Cruz)

Before Export, the fish are held in ponds and tanks at facilities (photo: Adriano Cruz)

The fish are exported worldwide from Brazil's Amazon Forest

Many IUCN Redlisted species benefit from the fishery (Photo: Nick St. Erne)

Conservation education:

• – Inform and liaise with key groups that influence the aquarium trade, including the mainstream conservation community (e.g., Association of Zoos and Aquariums, Conservation International, International Union for the Conservation of Nature, etc), aquarium fish trade groups, large retailers, In-situ and Ex-situ trade regulators, and the hobbyist community.