resource exploitation (Junk & Piedade 2005). For example,
extraction of the ac¸a´ı fruit (Euterpe oleracea) in the estuary
region generates $60–300 million a year (Brond´ızio
2008). The harvest of freshwater ecosystem animals is
a particularly important activity. Many terrestrial animals
inhabit riparian zones, either temporarily or permanently,
to drink water and feed on fruits, leaves, and
other animals (Junk & Piedade 2005), becoming vulnerable
to Amazonians who historically have hunted along
riparian zones (Bodmer et al. 1999).
The most important freshwater animals for Amazonians
are lateral migratory fishes. Fishes such as Arapaima
spp. and Prochilodus nigricans live in floodplain lakes or
river channels, respectively, during low water periods,
and migrate laterally into vegetated floodplain habitats
during high water (Fernandez 1997; Castello 2008a). In
vegetated floodplain habitats, especially in nutrient- and
sediment-rich rivers, fish larvae find nursery conditions
that increase their survival rates, and fish of all ages find
plenty of food (e.g., detritus, leaves, fruits), which allows
them to grow rapidly (Goulding 1980; Castello 2008b).
Seasonal lateral migrations thus increase fish population
biomass in river floodplains, and that fish biomass is dispersed
regionally as those fishes migrate longitudinally
along river channels, are eaten by nonlateral migrant
species (e.g., Brachyplatystoma rouseauxii), or are fished
(Bayley 1995). Abundant lateral migratory species dominate
regional fishery yields of more than 425,000 tons/yr
(Bayley 1998). Per capita fish consumption is high: in
the Brazilian Amazon, it now averages 94 kg/yr in riverine
populations and 40 kg/yr in urban populations, rates
that are 5.8 and 2.5 times the world average, respectively
(Isaac & Almeida 2011).