In the Ecuadorian Amazon, uncontrolled illegal fishing with agrochemicals and explosives is causing long-lasting damage to aquatic ecosystems, while representing a real danger to human health, a recent study has shown.
The research points out that illegal fishing, poverty, and easy access to both agrochemicals and dynamite in the region are strongly linked. It calls on Ecuadorian authorities to regulate the use of toxins and educate communities about the dangers of illegal fishing.
For the study, the authors analyzed media stories of illegal fishing between 2003 and 2021 across Ecuador’s six Amazonian provinces — Sucumbíos, Orellana, Napo, Pastaza, Morona-Santiago and Zamora Chinchipe — and ran more than 100 surveys with groups including anglers, the environmental police, and local residents. Nearly half, 49%, knew about the illegal use of agrochemicals and dynamite in Amazonian fishing.
“Illegal and unsustainable fishing is widespread around all Ecuador, not only in the Amazon region,” says study lead author Ricardo Burgos-Morán, from Amazon State University in Pastaza.
“People know it is a problem, but they can’t afford not to do it.”
Ecuador and the wider Amazon region have a tradition of fishing with toxins using a resin called cubé, derived from the Lonchocarpus urucu plant, known locally as barbasco. Cubé resin contains a compound called rotenone, which, when diluted in water, attacks a fish’s respiratory system, causing it to drown.
This form of fishing is protected and permitted in many Indigenous areas and has traditionally been used to catch extra fish for festivals and celebrations. As such, it’s practiced by these communities only sporadically, and because rotenone degrades easily in water, it presents a low risk to the environment. However, there’s a rising fear that people outside of these communities are starting to use cubé indiscriminately, and catching more fish than they need.