Brazil's Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture and WCS Sign Memorandum of Understanding to Build Fisheries Data and Monitoring System in the Amazon Basin

Brazil's Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture (MPA) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) signed a memorandum of understanding to expand technical and institutional cooperation between the two parties, with the goal of protecting aquatic ecosystems in the Amazon Basin and ensuring the sustainable use of fishery resources. The signing ceremony was announced publicly on November 13, 2026, and was attended by Edipo Araujo, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture of Brazil, and Dino Delgado, WCS Director of Relations and Policy, who attended on behalf of José Luis Gomez, the organization's Regional Director for the Andes, Amazon and Orinoco.

One of the core priorities of the agreement is to systematically generate data and implement comprehensive monitoring of fishing operations in the Amazon Basin. Under the arrangement between the two parties, the two institutions will substantially broaden the coverage and improve the quality of information on the river environment and biological populations, providing support for public policy formulation and the improvement of fisheries management frameworks.

The memorandum also establishes a mechanism for continuous exchange of professional knowledge, research methods and operational experience between the teams of both parties, and explicitly sets out that they will jointly identify cooperation projects to protect Amazon aquatic biological communities and advance sustainable fisheries.

At the signing ceremony, Edipo Araujo explained the practical role of this bilateral instrument: "This agreement strengthens the exchange of knowledge about the reality of fishery resources and the environment in the Amazon, and helps ensure that actions are increasingly firmly grounded in shared information."

Alongside the issue of fisheries governance in the Amazon Basin, a set of Chinese customs data presents a cross-section of Brazil's aquatic product trade with China. According to the General Administration of Customs' May 2026 import and export statistics, under HS 0306.17 (warm-water shrimp, including whiteleg shrimp, black tiger shrimp, etc., which is a commodity classification basis rather than a single biological species), China imported 7.608 tonnes of warm-water shrimp from Brazil in May 2026, with an import value of USD 503,178.0 and an average import price of USD 66,138.01 per tonne. The above three indicators are on the basis of customs import and export statistics and do not constitute catch volumes, aquaculture production or market spot prices.