Nice find, WrydeOne! That's a huge catfish!

Originally posted by WrydeOne
Unfortunately, fish that large are quite rare, because of the dangers posed by boats, pollution, overfishing, and nets.

I should point the above statement out that it is more common in North America than in Thailand. According to that news:

The researchers said the Mekong giant catfish is declining as a species due to habitat destruction and upstream dams.

The Mekong River Basin is home to more species of massive fish than any river on Earth, they added, and Mekong fish are the primary source of protein for the 73 million people that live along the river.

73 millions people who live along the river, eat many species of fish and this giant catfish somehow elude them?!

Originally posted by the_oleneo



73 millions people who live along the river, eat many species of fish and this giant catfish somehow elude them?!

Well, untill this point.

Now that is a fish

[edit on 707/5/0505 by Acekwak]

Yeah, the three gorges project certainly didn't help.

But I think overfishing is a key problem as well, considering the needs of the inhabitants of the areas are huge, and growing.

70 million people rely on the river for sustenance...

And to think it could easily provide for them, if the government programs were in place to preserve the habitat and bolster fish stocks.

I was once fishing in the Potomac River with my father and I hooked an extremely strong fish. Amazingly strong, it got away, but now that I've read this, I'm thinking that just maybe I had an old man (fish) on my hook.

So in this remote village, far and lost in the jungle. They saw fit to have a set of scales handy. " you hold it there Tom i'll take the photo"...."nahhh your wobbling mate HOLD STILL"...yeah reet....i think what we got here is an estimated weight....and lets face it....if it was my fish...it would weigh a ton...

I may NEVER doubt a "fish story" again!

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
Yeah, the three gorges project certainly didn't help.

But I think overfishing is a key problem as well, considering the needs of the inhabitants of the areas are huge, and growing.

Worse than 3 Gorges, the World Bank has okayed a project for Laos to dam the entire Mekong River.

Over fishing is a massive problem. All the anecdotal evidence points to a massive decline in fish stocks in the Tonle Sap (a tributary of the Mekong) in the last decade.

Coincidentally a decade ago (the peace treaty) is the beginning of a massive population bubble in Cambodia.

As well as the giant catfish, the Irawaddy freshwater Dolphin is also seriously endangered, the Mekong is one of its two or three habitats.

Best of all, a boatload of media at a giant catfish release at the confluence of the Mekong, the Bassac and the Tonle Sap (in Phnom Penh) got wet when their boat capsized.

Every year, during the monsoon, the Tonle Sap river reverses and flows from the Mekong into the Tonle Sap lake, instead of from teh lake to the sea, replenishing a giant freshwater lake and stimulating fish breeding cycles. The Mekong (and its tributaries) rises between 8 and 10 metres during the monsoon.

Can anyone else see a major ecological disaster in inhibiting and controlling the flow of the Mekong?

Originally posted by HowlrunnerIV..............Can anyone else see a major ecological disaster in inhibiting and controlling the flow of the Mekong?

Well, kinda sad to say this but...

As long as ecological stuff, does not bring in large profits, NO ONE cares.

I was all ready to renounce my religion and become a devoted follower of that fish... until i seen that dog! lmao

All Hail Sam!