The waterways within and around the Iwokrama Forest are home to an extremely high diversity of fish. So far, 420 have been identified, an exceedingly high number even though only a small portion of the rivers have been surveyed. This has led to estimates of up to 600 species for the area. In comparison, there are only 700 species of fish in all of North America. For an area its size, Iwokrama Forest has the world's highest recorded fish diversity.

There are two factors that could cause this elevated diversity. First there is the wide range of habitats represented within the area. Fish here have extensive choice of habitats, including flooded forests & savannahs, rivers, creeks, ponds and ox-bow lakes. This offers the opportunity for the development of different species.
The second factor is that the Essequibo River is situated between three major fish life regions: the Orinoco River, the eastern Guiana Shield, and Amazonia. Flooding during the annual high water periods enable an exchange in fish species between these three systems.
Some of the notable species found in the Forest...

Arapaima Fishery Business
 The Arapaima (Arapaima gigas) is one of the most sought after fish species in South America, especially Amazonia. The meat is boneless and constitutes up to 50% of the total body weight of the fish. A large Arapaima could yield up 100 kilos (220 lbs.) of meat and be worth about US$205; a smaller fish may be worth US$41. The major market for Arapaima is in Brazil, where the Brazilians have already reduced many populations to commercial extinction.
Arapaima harvesting is forbidden in Guyana. Unfortunately, in the last 30 years illegal fishing has drastically decreased the Essequibo Arapaima population. Most of the harvest was sold by local communities to Brazil at a low values of approximately 80 US cents a kilo.

Species/Fisheries Management
As a continuation of the Arapaima Research surveys concluded in 2001, a Management Plan for Arapaima was developed with local communities that would allow for the local Arapaima population to recover while local fishermen continue harvesting. This plan was based on a successful system developed by the Mamirauá Institute and fishermen in Brazil. Brazilian fishing communities using this system were able to increase the Arapaima population by 300% over the last three years and to increase the fishermen's profit by 100%.
The main features of the draft North Rupununi Arapaima management plan are that local fishermen are organized as Fisheries Committees that are responsible for counting the number of Arapaima in the lakes every year and determining conservative fishing quotas that would be shared among the fishermen.

Additionally, the plan includes a minimum size of catch (1.6 metres), restricts fishing to between December and February and does not allow harvesting of breeding adults. The community Fisheries Committees are responsible for enforcing these rules.
It is expected that fishermen will sell this high quality fish in Georgetown. Fisheries Committees will be supervised and receive scientific advice from the Department of Fisheries and Iwokrama. The draft management plan is currently being revised by the Ministry of Fisheries, Crops and Livestock, which has indicated that the plan will most likely be approved in the next few months.

Aquarium Fishery Project

Iwokrama, in partnership with the North Rupununi District Development Board (NRDDB), has developed a sustainable, community-based aquarium fisheries business in the Rupununi Wetlands. The project is designed to generate revenue for indigenous communities and benefits from the area's extraordinarily high fish diversity.
Fish are highly sensitive to forest disturbance and therefore the trade also serves as an indicator and direct incentive for forest conservation. Funded by the Netherlands Committee for IUCN Tropical Rainforest Program, the project has implemented management protocols to ensure local ecological and social sustainability.
On a regional level, Iwokrama hopes to influence South America's aquarium trade by introducing a certified 'green equity' trade, resulting in regulation of the presently unregulated industry.

Why Aquarium Fish?
The project was developed as an economic alternative to an overexploited Arapaima (Arapaima gigas) fishery and the potential for increasing unregulated timber harvesting.
 While timber harvesting in the region has been minimal, illegal harvesting of Arapaima, the world's largest scaled freshwater fish, has led to huge reductions in its population over the last 30 years. In recognition of this problem, Iwokrama and the NRDDB developed the Arapaima Management Plan. A major outcome of the plan was the need for new sources of fishery income; thus the Aquarium Trade in the Rupununi was born.

Which Fish are Harvested?
The project concentrates primarily on Loricariid Catfish species which are categorized as high value, low volume aquarium species. The following species are mainly targeted due to their high numbers in the Rupununi.

Monitoring
A database of harvesting statistics calculates fluctuations in CPUE (Catch per Unit Effort). This creates spatial and temporal data of off-takes used to estimate harvest impacts on wild populations. The data will be used for an aquarium fisheries management plan.  This plan will then be incorporated into a general fisheries management plan for the area.