A new report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) states that the populations of the iconic Mekong giant catfish is under threat due to the hydropower dams planned for the Mekong River. The report, River of Giants: Giant Fish of the Mekong, profiles four giant fish living in the Mekong that rank within the top 10 largest freshwater fish on the planet. At half the length of a bus and weighing up to 1,322 pounds, the Mekong River’s Giant freshwater stingray is the world’s largest freshwater fish.
As per the report the dam planned on the Mekong River at Sayabouly Province, northern Laos, is a threat to the survival of the wild population of Mekong giant catfish. The Sayabouly dam is the first lower Mekong River mainstream dam to enter a critical stage of assessment before construction is approved by the Mekong River Commission.
Dekila Chungyalpa, Director of WWF’s Greater Mekong Program, told that the size of a Mekong giant catfish cannot swim across a large barrier like the Sayabouly dam to reach its spawning grounds upstream. Current scientific information suggests the Mekong giant catfish migrate from the Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia up the Mekong River to spawn in northern Thailand and Laos.
The impacts of lower Mekong River mainstream dams are not restricted to these Mekong giants; they would also exacerbate the impacts of climate change on the Mekong River Delta, one of the world’s most productive regions for fisheries and agriculture. Building the Sayabouly dam would reduce sediment flowing downstream to the Mekong River Delta, increasing the vulnerability of this area to the impacts of climate change like sea level rise.
