22 MARCH 2023 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG particular due to competition from Peru. In the 1950s, aquaculture was introduced to the lowland Amazonian regions of the country with the farming of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus and common carp Cyprinus carpio. The work was carried out by local universities and NGOs looking to generate economic development and food security (FAO 2005). But because of social and political instability during the period, along with little formal investment, it failed to catch on with many farmers in the region. This began to change in the late 1980s and 1990s when USAID took an interest in this aquaculture, particularly in the coca growing heartland of the country — the province of Chapare. As part of the US War on Drugs, millions of dollars and extensive anti-narco activities were devoted to stamping out coca production. Part of those investments were dedicated to livelihood diversification, with aquaculture receiving significant attention. Aquaculture grew during this period but typically only in response to outside incentives and support. This raised awareness of the livelihood option but encountered a degree of resistance from farmers, many of whom viewed the foreign programs as undermining coca and thus their identity and culture, leading to the gains being mostly unsustained. By the late 1990s, US policy changes led to a reduction in this support for aquaculture in Bolivia. However, local institutions such as the NGO HOYAM — an early promotor of aquaculture in Bolivia, The University of San Simón and Gabriel René Moreno University continued to support sector development (FAO 2005) with Spanish and other European support. HOYAM created a hub of communal aquaculture around Trinidad at this time, with Brazilian, Hungarian and Japanese technical inputs and Spanish funding, while larger farms started around Santa Cruz with the support of Gabriel Rene Moreno University and Brazilian technology contributions. A relatively new aquaculture system is emerging in the central region of Bolivia, on the southern fringes of the Amazon rainforest. Small-scale farmers are growing indigenous tambaqui Piaractus brachypomus and pacu Colossoma macropomum in earthen ponds to sell in local markets and restaurants (Figs. 1 and 2). The fish have become part of the locally popular cuisine and are helping to establish a growing food culture. At the same time, the system is relatively benign environmentally and is generating important rural development impacts. It is helping to address food insecurity, boost local incomes and, perhaps most interestingly and importantly, is generating farming and entrepreneurship opportunities for women. The system is important because, despite the “hype and fantasies” of aquaculture, as discussed by Costa-Pierce and Chopin (2021), the vast majority of aquaculture exists in Asia, while regions with extensive potential, most notably Africa and Latin America, continue to be underdeveloped. As a landlocked country that historically has had one of the lowest rates of fish consumption in the world (INE 2015), Bolivia at first seems an odd locale for aquaculture to flourish. However, because of the work of NGOs, governments and especially the rural people, it now serves as an example of what aquaculture’s future can be in new geographies. A Short History of Bolivian Aquaculture Aquaculture in Bolivia began in the 1930s, in Andean lakes like Lake Titicaca, with the farming of rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss. These fish were introduced by missionaries and reared in cages to increase the local food supply and provide indigenous communities with a new source of income. Such aquaculture continues to this day and serves upscale urban markets, particularly the capital city of La Paz, but its application has diminished, in The Emergence of a New Aquaculture System in Bolivia Sean Irwin, Roxana Dulón, Veronica Hinojosa, Alvaro Céspedes, Luis Badani, Widen Abastoflor and Joachim Carolsfeld FIGURE 1. Tambaqui harvested from a Bolivian aquaculture pond. FIGURE 2. Harvesting tambaqui.
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