• For members of the Macaquiño community in the southeastern Colombian department of Vaupés, fishing forms part of the deep cultural and spiritual connection they have with their waters and the species that inhabit it.
• The introduction of more intensive modern fishing gear, such as using longlines and mesh nets, has had an impact fish populations and has contributed to a decline in the use of some ancestral fishing practices, they said.
• Community elders told Mongabay that while some traditional fishing tools are still used today, few people know how to make them, raising concerns that fishers may eventually turn to other techniques that can damage habitats and reduce fish species.

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VAUPÉS, Colombia — The Vaupés River and its extensive network of waterways and lagoons in the southeastern Colombian department of the same name are integral to the Indigenous Macaquiño community, who lives along its banks. It provides them with water for drinking, bathing and washing, and also serves as a migration route and breeding ground for an abundance of fish, which they depend on for food.

But for the Macaquiño community, these waters are more than just a food pantry, they told Mongabay. It forms part of the deep cultural and spiritual connection they have with their waters and the species that inhabit them. Their traditional calendar responds to its natural cycles, marked by the rainy and dry seasons, each with their own traditional rules and rituals dictating when the community can harvest food, fish and hunt.

Omar Salvador Fernández Chequemarca and Harold Ferreira Romero, two fishers from the Indigenous Macaquiño community in Vaupés, fish in the Vaupés River. Image by Aimee Gabay/Mongabay.
A fish caught from the waters of a flooded forest near the Indigenous Macaquiño community in Vaupés. Image by Aimee Gabay/Mongabay.

Manuel Claudio Fernández, the captain of Macaquiño, said the community doesn’t just care for the land; they coexist with it.

“How do we coexist? By respecting the forest, the articulation of spirits, the water, the forest and us humans. We, the people, depend on water and the forest. And the forest and water also depend on us.”

While Macaquiño fishers still use some of the traditional fishing tools passed down from previous generations, elders told Mongabay that the introduction of modern fishing gear, such as longlines and mesh nets, has caused a decline in fish populations and ancestral fishing knowledge. Fewer people know about fish species, fishing grounds, traditional fishing methods, water cycles or traditional management practices to protect the territory from overexploitation.

Traditional fishing rod. Illustration by Sao Sreymao.

“Here in the community, we’ve lost that respect,” Julian de Jesus Madrid Correa, a Macaquiño member, told Mongabay during a visit to the community in September 2025. “[Community members] go fishing out of economic need, for sustenance. They don’t respect it and they exploit it. In the past, they didn’t do that.”

Jesus Madrid said fish stocks haven’t been depleted yet, but based on what the elders say, there are fewer fish than before.

One traditional fishing trap still used today but which few know how to make is the matapí, or doriñÿ in the Cubeo language. There are several different types, all made from different palm species, such as patabá (Oenocarpus bataua), yaripa (Iriartea deltoidea) and inayá (Attalea maripa). Fishers place these traps upstream, covered with patabá leaves. A small opening is left uncovered so that fish can enter. They also use a larger version of the matapí, known as the ñapa doriñÿ, which they place on riverbanks.

A hanging matapí, or dorido. llustration by Sao Sreymao.

There is also a hanging matapí, or dorido, which is attached to a flexible rod by a hook. It’s designed so that the bent rod is activated when the prey takes the bait. The fish’s movement triggers the mechanism and launches the rod and basket to the water’s surface, capturing the fish inside the matapí.

Lives dictated by the seasons

The fishing techniques employed at any given time by the community depend on the season, as species availability and changes in the water levels require different methods. During the dry season from November to February, when water levels are low, several fish species such as tucunaré (Cichla ocellaris) and ñacundá (Lugubria lenticulata) deposit eggs in reedbeds and lagoons. Typical fishing gear during this period is the basic rod.

A technique using barbasco. llustration by Sao Sreymao.

Past generations of Macaquiño also used poisons, also known as barbasco, during the dry season, in a controlled way to avoid causing environmental damage. The technique was overseen by the community’s sabedor (wise person), who prayed during the process to keep the fish from sinking. The sabedor also monitored currents and supervised the number of fish caught by each family. Later, they prayed over the barbasco again to prevent the death of more fish.

“Back then, the sabedor had control over its use,” Carlos Castañeda Hernández, the regional director of the Corporation for Sustainable Development of the Northern and Eastern Amazon (CDA), told Mongabay.

Today, however, some communities use the poison without care, he said. “They destroy everything without limit.”

A central feature of the territory of the Macaquiño people is its flooded forests. By March, as the dry season ends and the first rains fall, the water channels, rivers and lagoons swell and overflow onto the land adjacent to the channels. During this time, fish begin to migrate down the Vaupés River, and new species arrive, such as guaracú (Leporinus friderici) and palometa (Mylossoma albiscopum).

A traditional fishing trap, the kakurí, or kobobÿ. Illustration by Sao Sreymao.

During the rainy season, fishers use another type of traditional fishing trap, the kakurí, or kobobÿ in Cubeo. It consists of two walls made of thin strips of yaripa reeds tied together with water-resistant fibers several meters high, installed as a fence along the banks of the river. Small fish swim through a small hole in the junction of the two walls and are then collected by the fishers. Fishers also recite a prayer and maintain a special diet once the kakurí is installed. This technique is still used today.

Castañeda Hernández told Mongabay that he worries about the loss of ancestral fishing knowledge and the impact this has on the environment. “At one time, there was an ecological balance between nature and humankind,” he said. “Seeing this loss, it’s clear that [communities] are misusing these [natural] resources.”

 

Banner image: Harold Ferreira Romero, a fisher from the Indigenous Macaquiño community in Vaupés, fishes in a lagoon that is considered sacred to the community. Image by Aimee Gabay/Mongabay.

Citation:

Bogotá-Gregory, J. D., Hurtado, L. F. J., Samudio, J. F. G., & Córdoba, E. A. (2024). Ethnoecology and use of fishes by the Cubeo people from the Cuduyarí River, Colombian Amazonia. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 20(1), 101. doi:10.1186/s13002-024-00737-1