There’s something exciting happening in Chiang Khong in Thailand. Exciting that is for the Mekong giant catfish. The members of the Mekong Giant Catfish Association have agreed to stop catching the endangered fish in and instead to try to help conserve it. The area around Chiang Khong is where the Thai-Lao stretch of the Mekong meets Myanmar, and traditionally the local people have, for one month of the year, tried to catch the giants as they migrate upstream to spawn.

No more. The fishers have agreed to stop fishing in return for financial compensation for their nets.

Table of Contents

  1. Editorial
  2. Fishers agree to help conserve critically-endangered Mekong giant catfish
    • Conservation strategy for giant catfish expected by next year
  3. Tonle Sap dai fishery almost doubles to reach new record
  4. Status of catfish farming in the delta
  5. Viet Nam aims to induce spawning of Pangasius krempfi this year
  6. Cambodia's National Fish Day
  7. Sharing data and information is just as important as collecting
  8. New national breeding centre in southern Viet Nam almost complete
  9. Cambodia and Viet Nam produce first comprehensive books on fishing gear
  10. Staff movements
  11. Mekong Fisheries Index

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About Catch and Culture

Catch and Culture is published three times a year by the Mekong River Commission Secretariat in Vientiane, Lao PDR, and distributed to over 650 subscribers around the world. Free email subscriptions are available through the MRC website, www.mrcmekong.org.

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© Mekong River Commission 2009

Editorial Panel

Editor: Peter Starr

  • Dr Chris Barlow, Fisheries Programme Manager
  • Dr Suchart Ingthamjitr, Fisheries Programme Officer
  • Mr Kaviphone Phouthavongs, Fisheries Programme Officer
  • Virginia Addison, MRC Communications Officer

Design and cover illustration: Phannavanh Anoulack

Disclaimer

The opinions and interpretation expressed within are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Mekong River Commission