Posted on 20 June 2013
| Bangkok, Thailand – Damming the mainstream
of the lower Mekong River would represent
a significant new threat to the survival
of the Mekong giant catfish, one of the
world’s largest and rarest freshwater fish,
according to a new study commissioned by
WWF.
The study sheds new
light on the status of this elusive species,
including data on its numbers, distribution,
threats and measures needed to prevent its
disappearance. While the exact population
size is unknown, there could be as few as
a couple of hundred adult Mekong giant catfish
fish left.
According to the study,
the Xayaburi dam on the Mekong mainstem
in northern Laos would prove an impassable
barrier for the migratory giant catfish
– which are capable of reaching up to three
metres in length and weighing as much as
300kg – and risks sending the species to
extinction.
“A fish the size of
a Mekong giant catfish simply will not be
able to swim across a large barrier like
a dam to reach its spawning grounds upstream,”
said the study’s author and associate research
professor at the University of Nevada, Dr.
Zeb Hogan.
“These river titans
need large, uninterrupted stretches of water
to migrate, and specific water quality and
flow conditions to move through their lifecycles
of spawning, eating and breeding.”
Species in steep decline
Numbers of Mekong giant
catfish are already in steep decline due
to overfishing, habitat destruction and
dams along the Mekong’s tributaries. In
the Mun River, the largest tributary to
the Mekong, a dam already blocks the migrations
of the Mekong giant catfish and has isolated
the Mun River from the remainder of the
Mekong river basin. The study claims that
the controversial Xayaburi dam could disrupt
and even block spawning, and increase mortality
if the fish pass through dam turbines.
“It’s likely the Mekong
giant catfish use the stretch of river of
the Xayaburi dam as a migration corridor,
with adult fish likely passing through this
area on their migration from floodplain
rearing areas to upstream spawning sites,”
added Dr. Hogan. “It is also possible the
giant catfish spawn in the area where the
dam is now located.”
Environment and water
ministers had agreed at the Mekong River
Commission meeting in 2011 to delay a decision
on building the Xayaburi dam pending further
studies on its environmental impacts. This
agreement was swept aside last November
when Laos decided to forge ahead with construction.
Dam fish passages unproven
Criticism of the US$3.5-billion
Xayaburi project has been growing with concerns
centred on the serious gaps in data and
failures to fully account for the impacts
of the dam, particularly concerning fisheries
and sediment flows.
Pöyry, the Finnish
firm advising Laos on the dam construction,
argues that “fish passages” can be built
to enable fish to get past the dam’s turbines
and swim up and down the river. But this
claim has never been successfully put into
practice.
“You can’t expect fish
ladders to work without understanding your
target species, their swimming capabilities,
and the water current that will attract
these fish toward the pass entrance,” said
Dr. Eric Baran with the World Fish Centre.
“Research is still needed to ensure mitigation
efforts will work.”
Mekong giant catfish
were once widely distributed through the
Mekong river basin, possibly as far as Myanmar
and south-western China, and were relatively
abundant up until the early 1900s. Their
numbers have since plummeted and the species
is now limited to the Mekong and its tributaries
in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand.
Catch figures also offer
sobering evidence of the species decline,
with numbers dropping from thousands of
fish in the late 1880s, to dozens in the
11000s, and only a few in recent times.
Despite laws being in place in Thailand,
Laos and Cambodia to regulate fishing for
Mekong giant catfish, with a ban on fishing
the species in Thailand and Cambodia, the
species is still fished illegally and caught
accidentally in fisheries targeting other
species.
“Catches should be monitored
to ensure that Mekong giant catfish are
not being illegally targeted by fishers,”
added Dr. Hogan. “Incidental catch should
also be monitored since it is one of the
best and only sources of information about
the distribution, life history and abundance
of this river giant.”
Urgent efforts needed to save the species
The study identifies
key measures to prevent the river giant’s
disappearance, including urgent efforts
to safeguarding migratory corridors and
critical habitat, and increased international
cooperation, such as basin-wide management
planning, since the species occurs in an
international river and crosses country
borders to complete its life cycle.
“The Mekong giant catfish
symbolizes the ecological integrity of the
Mekong River because the species is so vulnerable
to fishing pressure and changes in the river
environment. Its status is an indicator
of the health of the entire river, and its
recovery is an important part of the sustainable
management of the Mekong basin,” said Dr.
Lifeng Li, Director of WWF’s Global Freshwater
Programme.
“The Mekong giant catfish
can be saved, but it will take a level of
commitment from all lower Mekong countries,
as well as international organizations and
donors, that currently does not exist.”
+ More
Industrialisation of
the Great Barrier Reef denounced by World
Heritage Committee
Posted on 18 June 2013
| The Australian Marine Conservation Society
and WWF-Australia said today that Australia’s
governments are putting the Great Barrier
Reef at risk by failing to implement the
World Heritage Committee recommendations
around rapid industrialisation.
WWF- Australia’s Richard
Leck, who has been attending the World Heritage
Meeting as an observer, said Australia had
been put ‘on notice’ by the World Heritage
Committee.
“Australian governments
now have a firm deadline of June 2014 for
action to avoid the global icon being placed
on an international list of shame. This
will be a crucial 12 months for ensuring
the future of our reef and the AU$6 billion
tourism industry that relies on it,” Mr
Leck said.
“The decision reinforces
the strong concerns that scientists, fishers,
local communities and people around the
world have for the reef,
“The World Heritage
Committee was explicit that the most precious
pristine areas of the reef including Keppel
Bay, north Curtis Island and the northern
section of the reef need to be protected,"
said Mr Leck.
Felicity Wishart Great
Barrier Reef Campaign Director said that
the government had made some progress on
water quality and farm runoff but that these
gains could be overshadowed by millions
of tonnes of dredging and dumping for planned
mega-port development along the coast.
“Both major political
parties had the opportunity to support the
recommendations of the World Heritage Committee
through changes to Australian environmental
laws put before the Australian Senate on
Monday night. Both political parties refused.
“We need both major
political parties to recognise just how
serious the threat to the reef is. Australian
scientists are concerned, the World Heritage
Committee is concerned, and yesterday millions
of people tweeted their concerns.
“Yet the Queensland
Government continues to fast track large
scale port developments on the Great Barrier
Reef and the Australian Government is failing
to stop them.
“Australian state and
federal governments must heed the World
Heritage Committee recommendation and put
the brakes on the rapid industrialisation
of the coastline. There should be no more
port development or dredging and dumping
until a plan to properly protect the reef
is in place.
“Right now there is
a proposal to dredge millions of tonnes
of seafloor less than 50kms from the Whitsunday
Islands on Environment Minister Burke’s
desk. What will Tony Burke now do? Australians
and the world deserve to know.
“We will continue this
campaign to protect the reef from unacceptable
industrialisation” concluded Ms Wishart.
