The World's Forgotten Fishes - 34

HUMANITY'S FRESHWATER
The history of humanity is tied to
waterways - and freshwater fish. In
what is now France, Paleolithic people
carved a spectacular relief sculpture
of a salmon on a cave wall - 25,000
years ago! Long after that, our
civilisations developed beside rivers
and lakes; our cities, towns and villages
relying on them for water, food, power,
navigation and sanitation. People's
lives have long been shaped by the life
cycles of fishes and the pulsing flows of
the rivers they live in, from traditional
fishers on Lake Oguemoué in Gabon to
those on the Tonlé Sap in Cambodia,
whose lives, livelihoods and cultures
are adapted to the seasonality of
freshwater fish abundance.

tradition, they are the most important
freshwater fish of all. Still a customary
food source for Maori people57, the eels
also make up a commercially significant
freshwater fishery in New Zealand, with
annual landings of around 700 tonnes58.
Meanwhile, a large mythical eel called
Abaia is said to protect the other creatures
in freshwater lakes across Polynesia. In
Cambodia, the national Water Festival
marks the annual reversal of the flow
of the Tonle sap river and the flooding
of Tonle Sap lake, which transports
essential nutrients to the lake and fuels
the productivity of its fishery. Dating
back to the 12th century, the festival is
intimately bound up with the year's fish
and rice harvests.

An indelible part of our collective
inheritance, freshwaters and the fishes
that live in them still remain culturally
important to this day. Like mohinga,
the fish and noodle soup that is eaten
widely across Myanmar. Or carp which
are eaten for Christmas in eastern
Europe. Or the long list of beers that
are named after freshwater fishes, such
as Steelhead Extra Pale Ale, Mahseer
IPA and Sturgeon beer! Or place names,
such as Hilsa (India), Ely (England),
Pikesville and Bullhead (United States)
and the Nga Phe Monastery (Myanmar).

But freshwater fishes permeate our
societies far deeper than festivals, foods
or place names. In some cultures, they
are sacred. As long ago as the 3rd century,
the Indian Emperor Ashoka decreed that
fishes, including freshwater sharks and
eels, should be protected. The first temple
sanctuary for fish in India was established
nearly 1,200 years ago. Today, the
Endangered Himalayan golden mahseer
is still revered by local communities in
India and Bhutan and protected around
temples along several stretches of the
Ganges, where devotees come to feed
the fish with puffed rice. Fishing is not
allowed in these locations, and pilgrims,
temple authorities and local communities
protect these fishes. In 2008, the Mahseer
Trust was established to raise awareness
of the mahseers as flagships for river
conservation throughout South and
Southeast Asia. Despite these efforts
all mahseer species are highly
threatened by human impacts.

In some parts of the world entire
festivals are held in honour of
freshwater fishes. Take England's Ely
Eel Festival, which commemorates the
town's historic relationship with the
European eel from days when eel fishing
was the town's main industry. On the
other side of the world anguillid eels
are also celebrated. In New Zealand,
they were long a source of food and
income - and also reverence - for Maori
communities. They're represented in
gatherings, funerals, proverbs, songs,
artwork and mythology: by tribal

Some freshwater fish even brought
salvation - the other common name for
the candlefish. This little migratory fish
returned to rivers to spawn at the end

of the North Pacific winter, providing vital
sustenance to keep indigenous peoples in
that part of Canada and USA from starvation.
It also had an additional use: the fish was so
oily that it could literally be used as a candle.
Its oil was also traded - creating the 'grease
trails' of British Columbia and southeast
Alaska 59. Nowadays, the salvation fish is
threatened by habitat degradation, overexploitation and pollution - and
are in need of salvation themselves.
In addition to food and candles, some
communities use freshwater fishes as
medicine. This includes freshwater rays and
various cichlids in the Amazon basin, where
the fat of the trahira is used to treat earaches60.
There is no way to do justice to the full
cultural importance of freshwater fish in this
report. We've showcased just a handful of the
countless stories that could be told. Sadly, we
are continuing to degrade our rivers, lakes and
wetlands and allow both iconic and humble
freshwater fishes to slip silently away.
Their loss is a loss for all humanity,
which will have far reaching
consequences for communities
and cultures.

Freshwater fishes have swum through our cultures for centuries
The World's Forgotten Fishes page 34
The World's Forgotten Fishes

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