Thais
hunt for a bear-sized catfish - International
Herald Tribune, August 24, 2005
..."I saw a stingray in Cambodia in 2003 that was 4.13 meters
long," he said. "It had a disc 2 meters across and 2 meters
long, and the tail was 2.13 meters long. That fish could have been
it, but we couldn't weigh it. It was too big."...
The giant catfish have been disappearing fast, from more than 60
a year caught here in the early 1990s to just a few today. Their
decline coincides with the completion of the first of a series of
dams being built upriver in southern China...
As part of its permit to fish for these endangered catfish, the
village association then sold the fish to the Department of Fisheries,
which harvests their eggs and sperm as part of a captive breeding
program.
After that, the fish are to be returned to the river. But, as usually
happens, this fish, a female, did not survive the harvesting procedure,
in which its belly is vigorously massaged and manipulated.
In the end, the men of the village cut it into giant steaks and
sold it...
Thais hunt for a bear-sized catfish
This entry was posted in Wildlife and Nature. Bookmark the permalink.