Editing Mekong (section)

==Fisheries==
[[File:FishFarming on Mekong- Song Tien Vietnam.jpg|thumb|Fish farming on Mekong branch, Song Tien, [[Đồng Tháp Province]], Vietnam]]

Aquatic biodiversity in the Mekong River system is the second highest in the world after the [[Amazon River|Amazon]].<ref name="ICEM2010">{{cite web |author=International Center for Environmental Management |year=2010 |title=Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of hydropower on the Mekong mainstream |publisher=[[Mekong River Commission]] |url=http://www.mrcmekong.org/assets/Publications/Consultations/SEA-Hydropower/SEA-Main-Final-Report.pdf}}</ref><ref name="Fergusonetal2011">{{cite journal |author1=J.W. Ferguson |author2=M. Healey |author3=P. Dugan |author4=C. Barlow |year=2011 |title=Potential Effects of Dams on Migratory Fish in the Mekong River: Lessons from the Fraser and Columbia Rivers. |journal=[[Environmental Management]] |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=141–159 |doi=10.1007/s00267-010-9563-6 |pmid=20924582 |bibcode=2011EnMan..47..141F }}</ref>
The Mekong boasts the most concentrated [[biodiversity]] per hectare of any river.<ref name="VJetal2009">{{cite book |author1=J. Valbo-Jørgensen, D. Coates |author2=K.G. Hortle|name-list-style=amp |year=2009 |chapter=Fish diversity in the Mekong River Basin. |editor=I.C. Campbell |title=The Mekong: Biophysical Environment of an International River Basin. |location=London |publisher=[[Elsevier Publishers]] |pages=161–196 |isbn=978-0123740267}}</ref> The largest recorded freshwater fish, a {{cvt|300|kg|lb}} [[giant freshwater stingray]] in 2022 and previously a {{cvt|293|kg|lb}} [[Mekong giant catfish]] in 2005, were both caught in the Mekong River.<ref>{{Cite web |agency=Associated Press |date=2022-06-20 |title=Largest freshwater fish ever recorded caught in Cambodia |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/20/largest-freshwater-fish-ever-recorded-caught-in-cambodia |access-date=2022-06-20 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref>

The commercially valuable fish species in the Mekong are generally divided between "black fish", which inhabit low oxygen, slow moving, shallow waters, and "white fish", which inhabit well oxygenated, fast moving, deeper waters.<ref name="MRC_2010b">{{cite web |author=Mekong River Commission |year=2010 |title=Assessment of Basin-wide Development Scenarios: Technical Note 11: Impacts on Fisheries |publisher=[[Mekong River Commission]] |url=http://www.mrcmekong.org/assets/Other-Documents/BDP/Assessment-of-Basin-wide-dev-Scenarios-MainReport-2011.pdf |author-link=Mekong River Commission}}{{dead link|date=June 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> People living within the Mekong River system generate many other sources of food and income from what are often termed "other aquatic animals" (OAAs) such as freshwater crabs, shrimp, snakes, turtles, and frogs.

OAAs account for about 20% of the total Mekong catch.<ref name="MRC_2010a"/> When fisheries are discussed, catches are typically divided between the wild capture fishery (i.e., fish and other aquatic animals caught in their natural habitat), and aquaculture (fish reared under controlled conditions). Wild capture fisheries play the most important role in supporting livelihoods. Wild capture fisheries are largely open access fisheries, which poor rural people can access for food and income.

Broadly, there are three types of fish habitats in the Mekong: i) the river, including all the main tributaries, rivers in the major flood zone, and the Tonle Sap, which altogether yield about 30% of wild catch landings; ii) rain-fed wetlands outside the river-floodplain zone, including mainly rice paddies in formerly forested areas and usually inundated to about {{cvt|50|cm|in}}, yielding about 66% of wild catch landings; and iii) large water bodies outside the flood zone, including canals and reservoirs yielding about 4% of wild catch landings.<ref name="MRC_2010a"/>

The Mekong Basin has one of the world's largest and most productive inland fisheries.<ref name="ICEM2010" /><ref name="Baran&Myschowoda2009">{{cite journal |author1=E. Baran |author2=C. Myschowoda |name-list-style=amp |year=2009 |title=Dams and fisheries in the Mekong Basin |journal=[[Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management]] |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=227–234 |doi=10.1080/14634980903149902 |bibcode=2009AqEHM..12..227B }}</ref><ref name="Baran&Ratner2007">{{cite web |author1=E. Baran |author2=B. Ratner |name-list-style=amp |year=2007 |title=The Don Sahong Dam and Mekong Fisheries |publisher=[[World Fish Center]] |series=Science Brief |url=http://www.worldfishcenter.org/resource_centre/DonSahong-final.pdf |access-date=12 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509120231/http://www.worldfishcenter.org/resource_centre/DonSahong-final.pdf |archive-date=9 May 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Sarkkulaetal2009">{{cite book |author1=J. Sarkkula |author2=M. Keskinen |author3=J. Koponen |author4=M. Kummu |author5=J. E. Richery |author6=O. Varis |year=2009 |chapter=Hydropower in the Mekong Region: What Are the Likely Impacts Upon Fisheries? |editor1=F. Molle |editor2=T. Foran |editor3=M. Käkönen |title=Contested Waterscapes in the Mekong Region: Hydropower, Livelihoods and Governance |location=London |publisher=[[Earthscan]] |pages=227–249 |isbn=978-1-84407-707-6}}</ref> An estimated two million tonnes of fish are landed a year, in addition to almost 500,000 tonnes of other aquatic animals.<ref name="Hortle2007">{{cite web |author=K. G. Hortle |year=2007 |title=Consumption and the yield of fish and other aquatic animals from the Lower Mekong Basin |publisher=[[Mekong River Commission]] |series=MRC Technical Paper No. 16 |url=http://www.mrcmekong.org/assets/Publications/technical/tech-No16-consumption-n-yield-of-fish.pdf}}</ref> Aquaculture yields about two million tonnes of fish a year.<ref name="MRC_2010b" /> Hence, the lower Mekong basin yields about 4.5 million tonnes of fish and aquatic products annually. The total economic value of the fishery is between US$3.9 and US$7 billion a year.<ref name="MRC_2010a"/> Wild capture fisheries alone have been valued at US$2 billion a year.<ref name="Baran&Ratner2007" /> This value increases considerably when the multiplier effect is included, but estimates vary widely.

An estimated 2.56 million tonnes of inland fish and other aquatic animals are consumed in the lower Mekong every year.<ref name="MRC_2010b" /> Aquatic resources make up between 47 and 80% of animal protein in rural diets for people who live in the Lower Mekong Basin.<ref name="Baran&Ratner2007" /><ref name="Bush2003">{{cite web |author=S. Bush |year=2007 |title='Give a Man a Fish...' Contextualising Living Aquatic Resources Development in the Lower Mekong Basin |publisher=Australian Mekong Resource Centre, [[University of Sydney]] |series=AMRC Working Papers 8 |url=http://sydney.edu.au/mekong/documents/wp8.pdf}}</ref><ref name="Friend&Blake2009">{{cite journal |author1=R. Friend |author2=D. J. H. Blake |name-list-style=amp |year=2009 |title=Negotiating trade-offs in water resources development in the Mekong Basin: implications for fisheries and fishery-based livelihoods |journal=[[Water Policy]] |volume=11 |issue=S1 |pages=13–30 |doi=10.2166/wp.2009.001}}</ref> Fish are the cheapest source of animal protein in the region and any decline in the fishery is likely to significantly impact nutrition, especially among the poor.<ref name="ICEM2010" /><ref name="Bush2003" /><ref name="Baird_2009a">{{cite web |author=I. G. Baird |year=2009 |title=The Don Sahong Dam: Potential Impacts on Regional Fish Migrations, Livelihoods and Human Health |publisher=POLIS Project on Environmental Governance, [[University of Victoria]] |url=http://polisproject.org/PDFs/Baird%_Don%20Sahong.pdf}}{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="Baird_2011">{{cite journal |author=I. G. Baird |year=2011 |title=The Don Sahong Dam |journal=[[Critical Asian Studies]] |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=211–235 |doi=10.1080/14672715.2011.570567 }}</ref> Fish are the staple of the diet in Laos and Cambodia, with around 80% of the Cambodian population's annual protein intake coming from fish caught in the Mekong River system, with no alternative source to replace it. An MRC report claims that dam projects on the Mekong River will reduce aquatic life by 40% by 2020, and predicted that 80% of fish will be depleted by 2040. Thailand will be impacted, as its fish stocks in the Mekong will decline by 55%, Laos will be reduced by 50%, Cambodia by 35%, and Vietnam by 30%.<ref name="BP-20190720">{{cite news |last1=Wipatayotin |first1=Apinya |title=Dam tests spark crisis |url=https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1715627/dam-tests-spark-crisis |access-date=20 July 2019 |work=[[Bangkok Post]] |date=20 July 2019}}</ref>

It is estimated that 40 million rural people, more than two-thirds of the rural population in the lower Mekong basin, are engaged in the wild capture fishery.<ref name="MRC_2010a" /> Fisheries contribute significantly to a diversified livelihood strategy for many people, particularly the poor, who are highly dependent on the river and its resources for their livelihoods.<ref name="Baran&Myschowoda2009" /><ref name="Baran&Ratner2007" /><ref name="Friend&Blake2009" /> They provide a principal form of income for numerous people and act as a safety net and coping strategy in times of poor agricultural harvests or other difficulties.<ref name="Baran&Myschowoda2009" /><ref name="Baran&Ratner2007" /><ref name="Friend&Blake2009" /> In Laos alone, 71% of rural households (2.9 million people) rely on fisheries for either subsistence or additional cash income. Around the [[Tonle Sap Lake]] in Cambodia, more than 1.2 million people live in fishing communes and depend almost entirely on fishing for their livelihoods.<ref name="MRC_2010a" />