The regional government of Ucayali will promote the conservation of paiche (jungle fish species) in this Peruvian jurisdiction with an investment of about two million dollars, the regional director of Production, Mariano Rebaza, reported today.

In statements to Andina news agency, he explained that an initial project would focus on the Imiría lagoon, of the Masisea district, where previously there was a good amount of the above-mentioned fish species and which is experiencing a decline today.

“For this initiative, we will earmark a budget of 2.02 million dollars and the regional government, 14 native communities of the zone, the Research Institute of Peruvian Amazonia and fishermen’s association will participate in the campaign”, he said.

He also stated that one of the first steps will be to implement a closed season in the lake as well as to organize fishing surveillance local committees and to repopulate with 500 breeding of 4-year paiche.

The arapaima, pirarucu, or paiche (Arapaima gigas) is a South American tropical freshwater fish.

It is one of the larger freshwater fish in the world, reportedly with a maximum length up to 4.5 m (14.75 ft.) and weight up to 200 kg (440 lb.). The maximum weight and length is disputed. It is the largest freshwater fish in South America.

As one of the most sought after food fish species in South America, it is often captured primarily by handheld nets for export, by spearfishing for local consumption, and, consequently, large arapaima of more than 2 m are seldom found in the wild today.

Brazilian companies have shown interest in investing around 2.5 billion dollars in projects managed by Peru’s Promotion of Private Investment (ProInversión) this year, the executive director of this agency, David Lemor, reported today.

“ProInversión has an investment portfolio of about 5.2 billion dollars for this year, and companies are interested in investing in several of these projects”, he told Andina news agency.

He emphasized that the total amount of ProInversión’s portfolio has registered an important increase in the last months, compared to last July, from 3.6 billion dollars to 5.2 billion.

“We have a dynamic twelve-month portfolio of projects, because while we are finishing and executing some processes, other projects are included and started at the same time”, he stated.

Lemor is taking part in the Peru-Brazil Investment, Trade, Tourism, and Culture Entrepreneurship Meeting–ExpoPerú 2008, which started yesterday and will conclude today in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

In this regard, he said that both Peruvian officials and businessmen are taking advantage of this meeting to strengthen trade negotiations.