Conservationists are celebrating the invention and launch again into nature of six extremely endangered Mekong big catfish in Cambodia.
The bumper catch within the Mekong River Basin has boosted hopes of a revival of the critically endangered species, which is among the many world’s largest freshwater fish.
Fishermen launched the fish alongside officers from Cambodia’s Fisheries Administration (CFA), smiling as they held up the animals — weighing as much as 130 kilograms (287 kilos) every.
What the enormous haul means
The USAID-funded Wonders of the Mekong conservation group mentioned the seize of so many big catfish over simply 5 days was “a exceptional and unprecedented occasion.”
“I’ve by no means heard of this earlier than,” mentioned analysis biologist and challenge lead Zeb Hogan, from the University of Nevada
Reno.
“It’s a hopeful signal that the species will not be in imminent, like within the subsequent few years, threat of extinction, which supplies conservation actions time to be carried out and to proceed to bend the curve away from decline and towards restoration.”
“By tagging these fish, we acquire important details about their ecology, their migrations, their habitat…to attempt to assist these fish survive sooner or later,” Hogan mentioned.
How dangerous is the plight of the enormous Mekong catfish?
According to the IUCN Red List, the present inhabitants of the enormous Mekong catfish is unknown however it’s thought to have declined by round 80% previously 13 years.
They now are solely present in some stretches of the Mekong River and its tributaries, however previously inhabited the size of the 4,900-kilometer (3,044 mile)-long river — from its outlet in Vietnam to its greater reaches within the Chinese province of Yunnan.
The Mekong, a important Southeast Asian waterway has lengthy been suffering from unlawful fishing, habitat loss and plastic waste.
In addition, the Mekong River Basin change into a more durable habitat to outlive in due to dams, together with so-called mega-dams, and local weather change. These have had a devastating impression on water ranges and upstream connectivity within the dangerously uncommon catfish’s aquatic habitat.
