Wednesday December 14, 2022
The Phnom Penh Post —
Ministry of Environment spokesman Neth Pheaktra recently brought attention to the Mekong giant catfish and the giant Mekong barb, noting that regulations prohibiting fishing, trading or transporting the species have been in place since the Sangkum Reastr Niyum era of the 1950s.
“The Mekong giant catfish is on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Critical Endangered Species. It is also listed in Annex 1 of the CITES Convention, which strictly prohibits fishing, trading and other transportation,” he wrote in a social media post.
One of the three giant freshwater species present in the Kingdom – along with the giant freshwater stingray (Urogymnus polylepis) and the giant Mekong barb (Catlocarpio siamensis) – the giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas) can grow up to 3m long and weigh up to 350kg, although few examples close to this size have been seen in recent years.