By LuLu Victoria-Lacy, Thiago B.A. Couto, Natalia C. Piland, Jesús Dámaso, Stephannie Fernandes, Simone Athayde, and Elizabeth P. Anderson

Flooded forest with fish, LuLu Victoria-Lacy 2023, oil on canvas

Read the full paper here

Given its other-worldly scale and diversity, animal migration has inspired wonder in human communities for millennia. In this paper, we draw on Indigenous Amazonian illustrations, origin stories, and other narratives to reflect on the meanings and motivations of fish migrations across the Amazon Basin.

Which fishes migrate, and where and when do fish migrations occur? Perhaps more importantly, why do fish conduct such impressive, large-scale migrations in the Amazon, and how do Indigenous peoples talk about migration within their own worldviews? We discuss perspectives from three distinct territories of the Amazon: the Water Peoples of the Western Amazon, the Tukanoan peoples of the Northwest Amazon, and Enawene-nawe people of the Southeastern Amazon.

Indigenous perspectives about migratory fish provide important contributions to the study of animal migration and reveal deeper meanings and cultural practices tied to fish movements; stories about fish relay concepts of transformation and change, and involve various fishing arts, ceremonies, and seasons. This broader cultural context of migratory fishes makes the protection of Amazon freshwater ecosystems ever more urgent. We invite researchers to consider the cultural and spiritual role of migratory species in other regions, because we believe stories about migration can reveal important details about how to better live and relate with migratory species.