AARJ
JAUAPERI RIVER ARTISANS ASSOCIATION
In the Middle Rio Negro region, we welcome, support, sponsor, and stand behind the initiatives of the Jauaperi River Artisans and Extractivists Association (AARJ), an organization formed by a group of artisans and extractivists from the Jauaperi since 2004.
The association works against predatory fishing and succeeded in passing a law that protects the river from commercial fishing exploitation, the only law currently in force in Brazil that fully safeguards an entire river.
It also coordinates a river turtle conservation project (bichos de casco), involving six communities across one hundred kilometers of river (seven beaches). To date, considering all years of work combined, the project has released 50,000 hatchlings back into the wild.
In addition, it carries out sustainable management of pirarucu, the world’s largest freshwater scaled fish, which is threatened with extinction.
