Fishing in Acari National Park

Acari National Park sits in the southern Amazon, spreading across nearly 900,000 hectares of lowland rainforest in the state of Amazonas.

It was created in 2016 to protect the watersheds of four major river systems — the Acari, Camaiú, Sucunduri, and Abacaxis — along with their tributaries.

The terrain runs from terra firme forest to floodplain and campinarana, the white-sand vegetation that shapes the character of the blackwater and mixed-water rivers threading through it.

The nearest town is Apuí, to the south along the BR-230 Trans-Amazonian Highway. The rivers here are the fishing.

The Rio Acari, for which the park is named, and the Rio Sucunduri are the principal waters, both draining through intact forest with the dark, tannin-stained water typical of this part of the Amazon basin.

The Rio Abacaxis runs through the eastern portion of the park's territory, and the Rio Carauiri is among the tributaries feeding the larger systems.

Smaller igarapés — Igarapé das Cobras, Igarapé do Fogo, Igarapé dos Carecas, Igarapé dos Campos, Igarapé Porco, Igarapé Preto, and Igarapé do Tambaqui — lace the forest between the main channels.

These narrow forest creeks fish differently than the open rivers: tighter casts, heavier shade, and fish that hold close to structure. The Acari and its tributaries carry a diverse fish fauna adapted to blackwater conditions.

The park has seen little formal scientific survey, so the full picture of what swims here is still being documented — which is itself a reason the watershed was worth protecting.

Acari is administered by ICMBio, the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation. As with all Brazilian national parks, regulations governing access and fishing activity fall under federal oversight.

Before any trip, contact ICMBio directly for current entry requirements, permitted activities, and any conditions specific to the park — the remoteness and the protected status both matter here, and neither should be treated as an afterthought.

Getting to these waters takes real planning. There is no developed visitor infrastructure inside the park, and the rivers are the roads. That remoteness is also what keeps the fishing what it is.