Estimate of Trade Traffic of Podocnemis (Testudines, Pedocnemididae) from the Middle Purus River, Amazonas, Brazil

The trade traffic estimate was made by using real data from 2 years of seizures (2000 and 2001), combined with river stage-level data. Abufari Reserve is located about 600 km south of Manaus, where the largest stretch of the Amazonian floodplain is protected by a federal conservation unit. In the minds of the local people, the chelonian populations are still abundant and inexhaustible. However, records show that in 2000 and 2001, 3992 chelonians and 122 Podocnemis nets were confiscated, which represent only a small part of the total catch from this river. Consequently, these natural stocks could be decreasing because of trafficking by animal peddlers who invade the area and escape with animals to the detriment of the ecosystem and the local people.