The World?s Biggest Freshwater Fish?

  • Thread starter Warren 'Hatrick' (Wol) Gaunt
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Warren 'Hatrick' (Wol) Gaunt

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"This amazing species could be gone within the next few years if nothing is done to save it."


"WWF hopes the catch will highlight the plight of the Mekong giant catfish, which is a critically endangered species."

And whats happening to the 644lb fish then, stiff as a board and drying out nice. Pretty sure that one's going belly up or down one. I take they are not aware of its grim future.
 
GrahamM

GrahamM

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I think the WWF are very aware of it if that's who you mean, hence the press release. The fish was netted for food.
 
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Warren 'Hatrick' (Wol) Gaunt

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No law or legislation on size then, catch and eat. Dont suppose the locals give a flying anyhow. Thats what i meant by "I take it they are not aware of its grim future."
 
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Herr General Swordsy

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A sad end for such a fish we must hope the locals do give a damn! or its asta la vista mekong and the only place to snag one will be that thai lake full of specimen fish.
 
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sash

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Check out the 3 or 4 updates from Andy Pearson's travels around the world, Gullibles Travels, which are on this site somewhere. The Thai river systems are lined with deadlines and nets and have been for years. It reallyy is no wonder the fish are in decline.
 
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Stuart Dennis

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I've got to mirro the ginger winger on this one. An amazing creature but the first thing I thought was 'willit be returned safe and well'.
 
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Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)

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Guys, a fish like that will feed a small village.

We cant be surprised that in poor parts of the world that fish are seen as a food source first and foremost.

Just put yourself in their shoes when they see a rich western angler putting a fish back when their family are hungry at home.

We need to keep some perspective.
 
GrahamM

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Agree to some extent Nigel, but surely they need educating that their food supply will run out if the fish they catch become extinct.

The fish in the picture is obviously dead.
 
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sash

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Fair point Nigel but the problem seems to be overfishing not fishing. I can understand that the river is the source of food for millions of people but if they want that source to remain then some conservation measures do have to be put in place, wether that involves breeding/safe areas where no fishing is undertaken or just returning the large fish to enable future breeding to take place.
 
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Wolfman Woody

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I don't know that they would fully understand it though, Graham. Like Nigel says, their priority is to feed the family, this was a big catch, but they only see it as a big food source, not as the finest specimen of that species of fish.

Education has a part to play where people have a plentiful resources of all kinds of food and want to preserve species of animals, but where the priority is to feed themselves first and foremost, education will just go over their heads. Shame, but a fact of life.

Be honest, if you were starving, would you kill it or return it?
 
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Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)

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I suspect the problem though is not with villagers who have traditonally taken small amounts of fish with traditional methods for food but the commercial exploitation for profit by big organizations using modern methods.

The latter by its nature does need regulation & control.In many countries however the levels of government control are just not sufficient to impose such controls.Witness the caviar trade in the Caspian sea where under mafia control after tight communist regulation the Sturgeon is near extinction.

Release or retain is a difficult moral question for any angler fishing in such places.

Thge inverse argument is that by preserving fish as a resource for sport fishing, they will bring more money into the local economy in the long run.This is the case in the Maldives where net fishing is illegal in order to preserve fish stocks for the divers.
 
GrahamM

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Being honest I would kill it.

But they still need teaching that they need to look towards tomorrow as well as today. For their own sakes.
 
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Frank "Chubber" Curtis

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George Bush summed it up today. "You cannot expect people of the third world to care about the future of their enviroment when they need to feed their families".
Unfortunately it's a Catch 22 situation.
 
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Phil Hackett 2

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Guys that fish went back alive acording to the report in Manchester Evening News. WWF reps took the pictures and convinced the two fishermen to release so it could breed.
 
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sash

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It doesn't look very alive though does it Phil? As Wol says, "stiff as a board". Look at that tail, it could be used as a paddle its that stiff. Possibly a case of journalistic romance.
 
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Herr General Swordsy

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That catfish is no more, it is an ex-catfish!
 
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