Fishing in Parque Nacional do Jaú

Parque Nacional do Jaú sits on the lower Rio Negro in Amazonas state, covering roughly 2. 27 million hectares between the municipalities of Novo Airão and Barcelos.

Its boundaries follow the drainage of the Rio Jaú to the south and the Rio Unini and Rio Paunini to the north, with the Rio Negro forming the eastern edge.

The water throughout is classic água preta — dark, transparent, acidic, nutrient-poor, and lined with igapó forest that floods seasonally. The park takes its name from the jaú (Zungaro sp. ), one of Brazil's largest catfish, which inhabits these rivers.

The Rio Jaú is the park's defining water. It runs approximately 458 km almost entirely within park boundaries, draining a basin of around 18,500 km², and empties into the Rio Negro near Novo Airão.

The river is wide and deep in its lower reaches — the channel near Lago Cutiaú runs roughly 100 m across — and narrows as you move upstream into denser igapó.

The Rio Unini, forming the northern boundary, has historically supported intensive fishing activity by the traditional communities who live along it.

The Rio Negro itself borders the park to the east; the foz do Jaú, where dark water meets dark water off Novo Airão, is the most accessible entry point, with sandbars exposed during the dry season.

This is a unidade de proteção integral — a strict protection category under Brazilian law. Sport fishing is not a freely permitted activity inside the park.

What is allowed, and where, depends on the current plano de manejo and on authorization from ICMBio, the federal agency that manages the park. Traditional residents have separate subsistence fishing rights under their own rules.

There are already documented signs of pressure from irregular sport fishing inside the park, which shapes how ICMBio approaches access requests.

Before planning any fishing trip here, contact the ICMBio office responsible for Parque Nacional do Jaú in writing, well ahead of your travel dates.

Ask specifically about the trecho you intend to visit, request the current plano de manejo, and get any authorization in writing. A prior permit from the park office is required to enter the protected area at all.

Check with the park directly for current rules — do not rely on secondhand accounts of what was permitted in previous seasons. The Rio Jaú is a destination that rewards patience and honesty about what it is. The water is extraordinary.

The access is real but conditional.