The fish fauna of Tibagi river basin and the construction project of Mauá hydroelectric plant, Paraná, Brazil

Abstract

The middle stretch of Tibagi river basin in the State of Paraná, where the hydroelectric plant of Mauá is planned to be constructed, was considered by the Ministério do Meio Ambiente (MMA) as an area of priority for conservation. The environmental impacts studies for the species of fish were considered incomplete, inconsistent and not valid by researchers from the Universidade Estadual de Londrina. Thus, with the purpose of verifying which species of fish occur in stretches of Tibagi river and an affluent threatened by the project, Barra Grande river, a list of species that appear on the reports (EIA/RIMA) with species collected in this study and in literature, were compared. In the EIA/RIMA reports 125 fish species were registered. This study added 26 species than those recorded in the EIA, totaling 151 species, for the Tibagi river basin. Among those who did not appear in the EIA, five were collected in stretches of Tibagi river and two in Barra Grande river. The others are from current studies carried out in the middle and upper regions of Tibagi river. These results confirmed the errors presented in the EIA, emphasizing that several species can be new for science. Therefore, the studies presented in the by the CNEC S.A., and approved by Instituto Ambiental do Paraná (IAP), do not support propositions drawn to weaken the effects of the Mauá dam over the fish species that could be attained.