Indigenous Aquaculture Initiative

The Indigenous Aquaculture initiative is collaboration for fish farming with indigenous nationalities and communities in Ecuador's Amazon region. Our goal is to create a secure source of protein for family sustenance while protecting and preserving the biological diversity of the rainforest. The participants, indigenous families of the Secoya, Achuar, Shuar, and Kichwa nationalities, are developing aquaculture as an alternative to the unsustainable development practices that threaten the Amazon environment.

The program involves the farming of native fish as a self-help initiative for poor, rural indigenous families. It is based on technologies that are socially, ecologically, and economically appropriate, such as the construction of ponds through shared manual labor, the use of local resources for fish food, and the absence of chemical inputs in any phase of the farming cycle.