SAVING THE PANTANAL:KEEPING THE WATER FLOWING IN THE WORLD'S LARGEST TROPICAL WETLAND
SAVING THE PANTANAL
KEEPING THE WATER FLOWING IN THE WORLD'S LARGEST TROPICAL WETLAND
Spring 2020
AUTHOR:
Jill Langlois
PHOTOGRAPHER:
Jaime Rojo
By the time Elizete Garciada Costa Soares wades into the deep, warm waters of the Paraguay River, the sky is usually black.
The tiny crabs and bait fish called tuvira, which she captures with a metal screen, come out at night, long after the hot sun that washes over the Brazilian Pantanal has set.
It takes Soares at least an hour to reach the best spots to fish for bait, where the tuvira and crabs hide under the thick green leaves of the water hyacinths that float on the river’s surface. She’ll be gone for at least three or four days, so she brings a tent to pitch along the riverbank. Later, she will sell the bait to other fishers, usually in the nearby town of Miranda.
Soares is well aware of the dangers of her profession—she’s had her fair share of run-ins with jaguars and anacondas in the 26 years she’s been heading out on the river to fish. But she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Life here for us is very fulfilling,” says Soares of herself and her husband. “We have fish to eat; we have bait to sell to make money for other necessities. Even if we don’t have money for meat, we can go out on the river to fish and bring back a piranha to eat with manioc flour. Here, we never go hungry.”
More:
https://www.worldwildlife.org/magazine/issues/spring-2020/articles/saving-the-pantanal
Far more photos at google images.
