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Nicaraguan Lake and River Foodways

Specialised

⚠ LAKES AS FOOD SYSTEMS, NOT SCENERY. LAKE COCIBOLCA (Nicaragua) is the largest lake in Central America and holds a freshwater population of BULL SHARKS that reach it up the San Juan river — famously, and genuinely unusual. Also GUAPOTE (rainbow bass), mojarra, tilapia (introduced and now dominant), and the shad. LAKE XOLOTLÁN (Managua) was severely polluted by decades of untreated sewage and industrial discharge and its fishery was effectively lost, with remediation only recent — a documented food-system loss for the communities on it. OMETEPE, the twin-volcano island in Cocibolca, has its own agriculture. And the RÍO SAN JUAN, running to the Caribbean, is a food and trade corridor between the two coasts.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

Languages: Spanish

What is recorded

  • Lake Cocibolca is the largest lake in Central America and supports a population of bull sharks that reach it via the San Juan river, an unusual documented freshwater occurrence. Lake Xolotlán suffered severe contamination from untreated sewage and industrial discharge with consequent loss of its fishery; remediation is recent. These are recorded as food-system facts rather than as scenery. documented
  • Remediation of Lake Xolotlán begins after decades of untreated sewage and industrial discharge destroyed its fishery. documented

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