From NORTE ENERGIA SA: Cultivo de acari zebra-

[TwoTankAmin]

It is in Portuguese. I has the IBAMA "stamp" on it. I translated a lot of it so I could read it.

It does admit there are a lot more species in the Xingu than they used to.

Can anybody say, guilty conscience?

I will leave it to others who may read it to comment further.

http://licenciamento.ibama.gov.br/Hidre ... 0-%201.pdf

[Oceanica]

Seems like the officials in question are trying to say, "Since we might be decimating the natural habitats of valuable ornamental fish species, we should learn how to breed them." It's very much a guide for captive breeding of zebra plecos.

[PseudaSmart]

Some of the word choices were interesting. The fact that the hydro company published the report makes it even more self serving. My take is they are still down playing the ecological impact of the dam.
To me they are saying that it is not hard to breed them in captivity so no real harm. In fact if someone was motivated they could make a lot of money at it. Of course they neglect to mention that zebras are not on the allowed export list so the native collectors are out of luck.

Jools, is this why you were asking about CITES? If Belo Monto fish were removed from the list then captive raised could be exported.

Jim

[Acanthicus]

My take is they are still down playing the ecological impact of the dam.

Yes. I visited the facilities where they keep H. zebra and some other species last year and it was a very, very interesting time I spent with the author (Fabricio) and his co-workers. Afterwards I wasn't sure myself what I should think about it, but:

My take is they are still down playing the ecological impact of the dam.

That was exactly my main thought, still Fabricio and the people working in the facilities tried their best and even if it didn't really work that time it was obvious they wanted to know how to breed H. zebra and some others, they really cared. We spent hours and finally days explaining what kind of cave would be the best, what kind of water they should use, etc. It was not all about "playing down the impact". The official aim is to gain more information, and to pass these on to the (former?) fishermen so they can breed the endangered species. The facilities have been rebuilt somewhere else lately and everything became bigger, and also better I hope.