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.
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