In Peru, a move to get farmers to trade in fish rather than coca

Ruth Ruiz, the assistant economic manager for Ucalyali's state government, says that fish farming with paiche is a perfect alternative to growing coca because of the price.

Paiche can bring in about $2.30 per pound on the local market, while coca leaves are currently fetching about $1 per pound.

"This project has met the objective of showing that paiche can be raised in cages and that they reach a size big enough in one year to cover costs and turn a profit," says Ms. Ruiz.

There are, however, major stumbling blocks to getting paiche on dinner tables around the world. Hinostroza's institute is still working on better ways to get the fish to reproduce. The center has many breeders, but reproduction is sporadic. Last year, a serious drought in the Amazon affected reproduction, causing a huge drop in the production of fingerlings.

"Paiches appear to be seriously affected by climate change. We are continuing to learn about the fish each day," says Hinostroza.

Researchers are also working on finding the right formula for fish meal to feed the voracious paiches. Besides munching on other fish, Hinostroza says, paiches in the wild have been seen jumping out of water to snatch small birds from overhanging tree branches.

A corn-based feed seems to be working to sustain the caged fish right now, but it is made by hand at the institute. Mass production would be needed if there is any hope of reaching Vasquez's goal of exporting 50,000 pounds of paiche meat monthly.

There are also logistical problems getting the fish out of the jungle. The fish must be moved eight hours by boat to Pucallpa and then trucked to Lima, 300 miles to the south.

Another totally different operation contemplated by the state government would be to freeze the fish onsite and send them to Lima in refrigerated trucks. They would then be shipped to Europe and the US.

Even if they settled on an efficient way to get the fish from the jungle to US and European dinner plates, environmental groups may not be too keen on upscale restaurants including an endangered fish on their menu. This potential problem would be offset by the paiche fish-farming plan, according to an early 2006 report by a UN agency. According to the BioTrade Facilitation Programme, farmed paiche offer a window of opportunity as US and European customers increase their demand for products that are ecofriendly.

Vasquez is confident that these problems will be dealt with once his paiche plan begins working at full steam over the course of the next 18 to 24 months.

He said the plan will not only repopulate paiche in Peru, but he foresees shipping fingerlings across the border to Brazil to help boost the population there, ending its endangered status.

Zeb Hogan, a US biologist studying the world's biggest freshwater fish, agreed with Vasquez's assessment that conservation projects could work. "If these projects are successful, the paiche can be harvested sustainably and the population will be protected from extinction," he said in an e-mail.

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