The Mekong Giant Catfish

        Mekong Giant Catfish as fishermen continue to catch and sell the fish despite the fact that the species is critically endangered. The Tonle Sap River bagnet (dai) fishery is one of the two places where wild Giant Catfish are caught on a regular basis. Without regulation, fishing mortality from bagnets equals approximately 5-10 fish per year. 

           The Mekong Wetlands Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use Programme (MWBP), in cooperation with the Cambodian Department of Fisheries and the MRC Fisheries Programme, is reimplementing a Giant Catfish tag and release project in Cambodia in order to study the migratory behaviour of P. gigas. The tag and release programme was first implemented in 2001. The fish caught in the dais are bought from the dai operators, tagged and released. This buy and release approach provides a low cost, short-term solution to fishing mortality. The scheme does not harm the fisher’s livelihood and provides an opportunity for additional research 

      Mekong Giant Catfish captured in the Tonle Sap River bagnet fishery and Tonle Sap Lake fishing lots, October – December 2004. Of the five Giant Catfish captured in the dai, one died before release because the bagnet owners would not sell the fish to the Department of Fisheries and two died after release, presumably due to capture stress.