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ASFB Home > The effects of spatial and temporal factors on the abundance of seven key finfish species along south-western Australia.
Mekong River Commission, PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
THEME: ASFB
The freshwater fisheries of the Mekong River constitute possibly the most important inland fishery in the world. Yield in the Lower Mekong Basin (Lao PDR, Thailand, Cambodia and Viet Nam) is estimated at around 1,750,000 tonnes per annum. Approximately two-thirds of the 60 million people in the LMB are involved in the fisheries at some stage of the year. The value of the fisheries at first sale is estimated at US$1,400 million, although this figure underestimates the importance of the fisheries in terms of food security and employment. The ecological basis for the immense production is the annual flood inundating vast areas of highly productive floodplains, coupled with a very diverse fish fauna. There are between 1200 and 2000 fish species in the river (the variation mainly depends on the exclusion / inclusion of marine vagrants). The rising flood waters in the Mekong cause the amazing phenomenon of the flow in one of its major tributaries, the Tonle Sap River, to reverse, and in doing so, flood the Great Lake in central Cambodia. The Great Lake varies in size from 2,700 km2 in the dry season to 10,000-15,000 km2 in the wet season. Water receding from the floodplains at the end of the wet season signals the start of massive fish migrations. Many different fishing procedures have been developed to target the migrating fishes. The magnificent Mekong fisheries can be seen at the time of the 'Second International Symposium on the Management of Large Rivers for Fisheries: Sustaining Livelihoods and Biodiversity in the new Millennium (LARS2)'. The Symposium will be held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on 11-14 February 2003. Interest in the Symposium is high, with more than 120 abstracts having been received from all over the world. Your involvement would be welcomed. More information on LARS2 can be found at www.lars2.org .
