Fisherman knowledge of Mekong giant catfish at the Kaeng Krachan Reservoir, Thailand

Abstract

A lot of hatchery-reared juvenile Mekong giant catfish have been released into the Kaeng Krachan reservoir as fishery resources until 2011. Local knowledge of the catfish was assessed from fishermen at the reservoir in May 2011. The fisheries cooperative strictly regulate the total number of the catfish captured by all fishermen in a year for the stock management, and the total number in a year is related to the number captured in the previous year. In 2010 only 10 catfish could be harvested. A fisherman used a gill net with 50 cm mesh size to capture the Mekong giant catfish. The experience of the fisherman suggests that the catfish might stay at deeper areas in the reservoir, and could be harvested around such deeper areas. One of the Mekong giant catfish captured in this reservoir in 2010 was around 2 m in length and 117 kg in weight. These suggest that the Mekong giant catfish can adapt themselves to grow up in a reservoir such as the Kaeng Krachan reservoir.