TUKANOAN FISHING

Representations of the Amazonian river margin as a fertile plain are b ased upon models derived from the ecologies of whitewater rivers and s hould not be applied generally to the basin. In the nutrient-poor blac kwaters of the northern section of the basin, flooding does not improv e adjacent soils. There, it is the forest that restores the river. By reserving the natural vegetation of the riparian forest for fisheries maintenance and restricted harvesting, rather than deforesting the mar gin for agriculture, the Tukanoan Indians of the Upper Rio Negro basin in northwest Brazil demonstrate the potential of the forested floodpl ain as an important source of animal protein. Experimentation shows no comparable potential for agricultural production on blackwater soils.