World’s w88 online live casino, most endangered freshwater fishes released in Cambodian lake

It's the hot season in Cambodia; ideal for releasing some of the world's w88 online live casino most endangered freshwater fish into the Tonle Sap lake, the w88 online live casino freshwaterlakein Southeast Asia and one of the richest inland fishing grounds in the world.

"Out in themiddle of the w88 online live casino, you can barely see land;the sky and the w88 online live casino blend together and it can be hard to see the horizon," Zeb Hogan, fish biologist from the College of Science's Department of Biology and a member of the University's Global Water Center, said.

Working to save some of the world’s most critically w88 online live casino fish, an international team of scientists and fisheries professionals led by Hogan released as many as 1,500 of several iconic fish species into a fish reserve in the Tonle Sap, Southeast Asia's Great Lake, which is connected to the Mekong River.

“This is the first step in an effort to restore populations of the Mekong’s w88 online live casino freshwater fishes," Hogan, who works cooperatively with the United States Agency for International Development to lead the Wonders of the Mekong project, said. "Fish reserves have been shown to be an effective tool at protecting aquatic biodiversity and boosting fish biomass. It’s one action, of many that are needed, to bring these species back from the brink of extinction."

The Wonders w88 online live casino Mekong project is an 8-year project funded by the United States Agency for International Development,focusing on water and biodiversity issues to protect the fishery.

"We've had a great few days here out on the Tonle Sap w88 online live casino with a very successful fish release and research project," he said. "We were reintroducingendangeredspecies into the wild.The fish were collected by Fisheries Administration one of our partners in the project."

Among the fish species released over the weekend of March 5-6 are the critically endangered Mekong giant catfish, which is the current world-record holder for the world’s w88 online live casino freshwater fish at 646 pounds; the endangered striped river catfish, once a staple food in the region, whose population has dramatically declined; and the critically endangered giant barb, the world’s w88 online live casino carp species and Cambodia’s national fish.

"It's a great project, releasing the world's biggest fish into one of the w88 online live casino networks of freshwater fish sanctuaries," Hogan said as they prepared for the release. "There are many different sizes of the three species we are releasing, ranging from about 10 inches to a 5-foot long Mekong giant catfish."

Government operated w88 online live casino reserve

The 1,500 fish were released into the government-operated fish reserve, former fishing lot No. 4 in the Tonle Sap w88 online live casino, where no fishing is allowed. It's a short drive and boat ride from the city of Siem Reap and the famous ancient temples of Angkor Wat. The fish are mostly juveniles that have been reared by the Cambodian Fisheries Administration in partnership with the USAID supported Wonders of the Mekong cooperative project. By tagging the fish prior to their release, researchers will have a unique opportunity to study the animals’ survival, growth and movement.

“We are trying to determine how many w88 online live casino will stay in the protected area," Hogan said. "All of the w88 online live casino were tagged with a unique number – so if they are recaptured we will be able to learn about their survival rate, growth and movements."

The fish were were collected in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021, so some were in the hatchery just one year and some as many as four years. The fish were transported by cars and trucks from the w88 online live casino Aquaculture Research and Development Center in Bati Village where the fish were raised. As the reserve is in the middle of the giant lake, the last stage was by boat.

"The Mekong giant catfish was put inside of a van that was lined with a tarp and filled with water," Hogan said. "So essentially a large tank that was created inside a van.It left southern Cambodia at 8 p.m. and arrived in Siem Reap at 6 a.m. the next morning. It was then kept in an observation pond for 24 hours, then transported by boat to the middle of the Tonle Sap w88 online live casino and released."

The fish came from a variety of origins but the one thing that they have in common: they were all collected from the wild when they were very young - in some cases just a few days old. About half of them were collected by the Wonders of the Mekong project staff as part of a research project on fish spawning/larval fish dispersal.Several hundred were sourced from fishers around the Tonle Sap w88 online live casino who also collected them when they are very young and stock them into cages.

“The purpose of this event is to reintroduce captive-reared w88 online live casino fishes to the wild and track their fate," Ngor Peng Bun, fish ecologist and Dean of Faculty of Fisheries Science at the Royal University of Agriculture, said. "We need to better understand the effectiveness of fish reserves as a refuge for threatened fish; this release today will inform future conservation practices and help us understand whether such methods are effective in supporting the restoration of these species’ wild populations.”

Tonle Sap w88 online live casino home to 300 species of fish

The Tonle Sap, Southeast Asia’s w88 online live casino lake and home to more than 300 species of fish, is a hotspot for freshwater biodiversity and a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Historically, it has served as a crucial nursery ground for endangered giant fish and for many other migratory fish populations in the Mekong River basin. In recent years, these fish have come under increasing threat from dam building upstream, overfishing and drought.

To combat these threats to fish populations, a series of government-run fish sanctuaries and community conservation areas have been established in the Tonle Sap Lake, forming one of the w88 online live casino networks of aquatic conservation zones in the world.

“The Cambodian government has taken action to establish fish sanctuaries, protect core areas of the Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve and formalize community fisheries and associated reserves - these characteristics make Cambodia an ideal place for w88 online live casino fish restoration work," H.E. Poum Sotha, Director General of the Cambodian Fisheries Administration, said at the event. "Today is part of a multi-year effort to test the efficacy of using the Tonle Sap’s world’s large network fish reserves for reintroduction of captive-reared w88 online live casino fishes into the wild. The ultimate goal is to protect fish until they grow large enough to reproduce, in order to support fisheries and biodiversity.”

This release of w88 online live casino species into the Tonle Sap Lake is expected to be the first of many to come, and researchers are optimistic that a sustained commitment to protecting some of the world’s most w88 online live casino freshwater giants will bear fruit.

"We have been planning this for four years and it was the first tag-and-release of many to come," w88 online live casino. "We will conduct another tag-and-release this summer in July or August.

"Assuming the supplementation program is continued in subsequent years, and that favorable habitat and harvest conditions exist to support the full life cycle of these fishes w88 online live casino wild, this research is part of longer term goals of increased population sizes, natural reproduction, and self-sustaining populations of these rare and remarkable animals.” Hogan added that other actions, such as the protection of migration corridors like the Tonle Sap River and spawning grounds w88 online live casino upper Cambodian Mekong, are also needed.