Romania takes the lead in restoring sturgeon fisheries in the Danube

From WWF News
20 Jun 2006

Vienna, Austria/Bucharest, Romani – A Romanian ban on the commercial fishing of all wild sturgeon species for the next ten — which came into force on 4 May 2006 — has to be followed up by other countries in the region in order to restore declining sturgeon populations in the Danube river basin.

The best occasion to initiate such decisions in Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro and Ukraine is the upcoming CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) meeting of the north-western Black Sea and Lower Danube Sturgeon region, which will take place in Sarulesti, Romania, from 21–22 June 2006.

The Black Sea once harboured some of the most productive sturgeon populations. Sturgeons are fished mainly for caviar, although their meat and skin are also widely used in the region. Poorly regulated fisheries have caused severe decline in populations due to overfishing, which almost entirely disrupted the fish species' natural spawning in the Danube River.

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Endangered Species: Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus Thynnus)

Photo: Gilbert Ryckevorsel, Science

From WWF

AKA: Northern bluefin tuna, horse mackerel, giant tuna, maguro, atun de aleta azul, thon rouge.

A giant amongst fishAdults are typically 2 metres long but can reach over 4 metres, making the Atlantic tuna one of the largest bony fishes and the largest of all tuna species. Adults average around 250kg, but the largest recorded specimen was a massive 679 kg - that’s heavier than a horse!

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Blue Fin Tuna in Crisis

Campaign by WWF http://www.panda.org/marine/tuna

Shark Declines Threaten Shellfish Stocks, Study Says

Helen Scalesfor National Geographic News
March 29, 2007

Dramatic declines of large North Atlantic sharks due to overfishing have upset the balance of entire marine ecosystems, a new study shows. Now scallops, clams, and oysters are paying the price.

Smaller sharks, skates, and rays that are normally eaten by the large sharks have become so abundant that they are ravaging shellfish stocks, the researchers say.

The shark declines, fed by growing worldwide demand for shark-fin soup, are indirectly causing some scallop fisheries to collapse entirely, the scientists add.

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Organisations

Searin - Southeast Asia River Network http://www.searin.org/indexE.htm
National Geographic Conservation Trust http://www.nationalgeographic.com/research/grant/rg2.html

Endangered Species: Mekong Giant Catfish (Pangasianodon Gigas)

From National Geographic

Called Pla Buek in Thai, the giant catfish can weigh as much as 650 pounds (300 kilograms) and measure up to 10 feet (3 meters) in length. They are the largest scaleless freshwater fish in the world.

Chainarong Sretthachau, director of the conservation group Southeast Asia Rivers Network in Chiang Mai, Thailand, said threats to the giant catfish include commercial fishing, their touting to tourists as a food said to impart wisdom, and dynamite blasting of their spawning ground.
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Mekong Fish Conservation Project
Supported by the National Geographic Society's Conservation Trust, the Cambodian Department of Fisheries, and the conservation group Save Cambodia's Wildlife.

Giant Catfish May Be World's Largest Freshwater Fish

From National Geographic

Photograph by Suthep Kritsanavarin

Fishers in northern Thailand netted this huge catfish in the Mekong River on May 1. Nearly nine feet long (2.7 meters) and as big as a grizzly bear, the behemoth tipped the scales at 646 pounds (293 kilograms). Experts say the fish, which belongs to the species known as the Mekong giant catfish, may be the largest freshwater fish ever recorded.

Thai fishers struggled for more than an hour to haul in the record-breaking Mekong giant catfish. Officials from Thailand's Inland Fishery Deparment then used a performance-enhancing drug to stimulate the pituitary gland of the female fish in order to prepare it for a breeding program (above). Despite efforts to keep the bear-size catfish alive, it died and was later eaten by villagers.The species is listed as critically endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and faces a high risk of extinction in the wild. The rare specimen, captured in the Mekong River in Chiang Khong district, is the largest since Thailand began keeping records in 1981.

Thai fisheries officials had hoped to release this adult female Mekong giant catfish after they stripped it of eggs (above) for a captive-breeding program. But the whopping fish, which was as big a grizzly bear, didn't survive.Listed a critically endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the Mekong giant catfish is one of the world's largest freshwater fishes. Other contenders include the Chinese paddlefish and the dog-eating catfish—another Mekong River giant.

After a record-breaking Mekong giant catfish died, residents of Hat Khrai, a Thai village on the Mekong River, butchered the fish for its meat."Mekong people believe it's a sacred fish, because it persists on plant matter and 'meditates'"—in the deep, stony pools of the Mekong River—"somewhat like a Buddhist monk, said Zeb Hogan, a fisheries biologist who studies the largest freshwater fish in the world. A WWF conservation fellow and National Geographic Society Emerging Explorer, Hogan has received funding from the National Geographic Society Conservation Trust.Mekong giant catfish attract high prices in Thailand, because eating the fish is supposed to bring good luck. Likewise, the Chinese believe that catfish meat boosts intelligence and prolongs life.

Photo in the News: Century-Old Fish Caught in Alaska

Got this from National Geographic

Photograph by Karna McKinney, NOAA Fisheries/AP

April 6, 2007—A handful of Christians preparing rockfish as part of their traditional fish dinner this Good Friday might be feasting on one of the oldest creatures ever to live in Alaskan waters.

Commercial fishers in the Bering Sea recently hauled in the female shortraker rockfish seen above, which scientists say was between 90 and 115 years old. Researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) used growth rings in the fish's ear bone, or otolith, to make their age estimate.

NOAA scientists also found that the fish's advanced years had yet to take a toll on its reproductive abilities.

"The belly was large," NOAA researcher Paul Spencer told the Associated Press. "The ovaries were full of developing embryos."

A Seattle, Washington-based ship caught the 44-inch-long (112-centimeter-long), 60-pound (27-kilogram) fish while trawling for pollock at about 2,100 feet (640 meters) below the surface. The massive mama was among ten shortrakers pulled from the depths along with roughly 75 tons of the smaller commercially fished species.

The fish's age and size both approach the maximum known limits for shortrakers. The largest on record measured 47 inches (119 centimeters) long, and the oldest ever caught was 157 years.
—Victoria Jaggard