Mekong

Throughout history, many different cultures have associated lunar cycles with changes in a variety of human and animal behaviors. In the southern-most part of Laos, in the area known
as "Siphandone" or the 4,000 islands, rural fishers living on islands in the middle of the mainstream Mekong River are especially conscious of the influence of lunar cycles on aquatic life. They associate upriver migrations of large quantities of small cyprinid fishes from Cambodia to Laos at the beginning of each year with lunar phases. This article examines the fishery for small cyprinids in the Khone Falls area, Khong District, Champasak Province, southern Lao PDR, and a five-year time series of catch-effort fisheries data for a single fence-filter trap are presented. These data are then compared with catch data from the bag-net fishery in the Tonle Sap River in Cambodia. It is shown that the migrations of small cyprinids, particularly Henicorhynchus lobatus and Paralaubuca typus, are highly correlated with new moon periods at the Khone Falls. Many small cyprinids migrate hundreds of km up the Mekong River to Khone Falls from the Tonle Sap River and probably the Great Lake in Cambodia. The evolutionary conditions that have led to the behavior of these fish are discussed, and management implications are considered.

Khone (pronounced "Kawn") Falls is the site of one of the most important wildcapture riverine fisheries in tropical Asia. Khone villagers have been fishing the area for generations, and have inherited or developed an out standing array of artisanal fishing devices based on intimate knowledge of migratory, feeding and other behavior of numerous fish species. Their traditional fisheries management system is also highly developed. Khone fishing people are confronted by the decline of many species, especially of strongly migratory ones which are the main basis for the fisheries. The small cyprinid fish Cirrhinus lobatus is an ecological keystone species. It is the most abundant fish species in the Khone Falls area, and is usually the first species to migrate upstream in the December-February non-reproductive migratory period. Data on migratory C. lobatus during the June-July reproductive migratory period indicate that the species is a progynous hermaphrodite. Another important cyprinid is the large species Probarbus jullieni, caught mainly in November-January when it is migrating to spawning sites or is actually engaged in spawning activity. The history of the Probarbus fisheries in southern Laos indicates that a long term decline started around 1970, with the introduction of nylon gillnets, and that it increased rapidly after 1991 when markets opened up and fisheries became increasingly capitalized and modernized. Important catfishes include Pangasius macronema and P. krempfi Pangasius macronema is the object of an unusual communal fisheries practiced by the village of Ban Hang Sadam. Pangasius krempfi is a diadromous species, spending much of its life in coastal waters of the South China Sea, but returning to the Mekong River to spawn.

Plans are underway to construct twelve large hydropower projects on the un-dammed lower and middle mainstream Mekong River in Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia. One of the planned projects is a 30–32 meter–high hydroelectric dam with an expected 240 MW installed generating capacity to be built on the Hou Sahong Channel, less than one kilometer north of the Laos–Cambodia border, in the Khone Falls area of Khong District, Champasak Province, southern Laos. The project’s objective is to generate revenue by exporting electricity to Thailand or Cambodia. Concerns have been raised about the Don SahongDam(DSD), however. The main ones relate to potential repercussions on aquatic resources, and especially wild-capture fisheries dependent on migratory fish. This article examines the regional implications of the DSD, including possible impacts on food security, nutrition, and poverty alleviation. Fisheries losses in the Mekong Region from the DSD would negatively affect the nutrition of hundreds of thousands or even millions of people, especially in parts of Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand where nutritional standards are already low. Mekong fisheries are integral to food security in the region, and the DSD would make it difficult for governments, especially in Laos and Cambodia, to reach their health-related United Nations Millennium Development Goals and their objectives for reducing poverty.

The Mekong River, well known for its aquatic biodiversity, is important to the social, physical, and economic health of millions living in China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. This paper explores the social and environmental impacts of several Mekong basin hydropower dams and groupings of dams and the geographies of their impacts. Specifically, we examined the 3S (Sesan, Sekong Srepok) river system in northeastern Cambodia, the Central Highlands of Vietnam, and southern Laos; the Khone Falls area in southern Laos; the lower Mun River Basin in northeastern Thailand; and the upper Mekong River in Yunnan Province, China, northeastern Myanmar, northern Laos, and northern Thailand. Evidence shows that these dams and groupings
of dams are affecting fish migrations, river hydrology, and sediment transfers. Such changes are negatively impacting riparian communities up to 1000 km away. Because many communities depend on the river and its resources for their food and livelihood, changes to the river have impacted, and will continue to negatively impact, food and economic security. While social and environmental impact assessments have been carried out for these projects, greater consideration of the scale and cumulative impacts of dams is necessary.

The lower, potamonic parts of the Ganges–Brahmaputra, the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy), the Salween, the Chao Phraya and the Mekong and Lancang Rivers are among the longest and most productive rivers for inland fisheries in the world. Except for the Chao Phraya, they arise on the Tibetan Plateau. All have steep and turbulent upper courses within deep mountain valleys and flat lower courses associated with large deltaic wetlands. Much of the riparian wetlands have been converted to rice culture. They all have rich and diverse fish faunas, comprising >100 families, that are adapted to a wide range of river channel and floodplain habitats. Many species are migratory whitefishes, but more sedentary blackfishes are more important in the fisheries of some rivers. Fisheries may be commercial, artisanal or subsistence and employ a wide range of static and moving gear, some of which requires considerable investment. Most species caught are consumed. Larger fishes
are sold for the table; smaller individuals are often processed into a variety of forms including dried products, fish pastes and
sauces. Small, low‐value fishes are also utilized for animal feed (mainly for aquaculture) sometimes after processing. There
are a wide range of potential threats to the inland fishes and fisheries of Asia including dam development for hydropower
and irrigation, overexploitation, pollution, land use change, mining, the introduction of invasive species, and water diversion
for agriculture and other purposes. Fisheries are managed either as open access fisheries or lot fisheries which are assigned to particular groups on the basis of auctions. At present, management at local, national, basin and international levels is not meeting the needs of fish and fishery conservation and urgently needs to be reformed to better protect the fisheries in the face of mounting pressures from other users of the aquatic resource.

The countries sharing the Lancang-Mekong River are entering a new
era of hydropolitics with a growing number of hydropower dams
throughout the basin. Three ‘powersheds’, conceptualised as physical,
institutional and political constructs that connect dams to major power
markets in China, Thailand and Vietnam, are transforming the nature–
society relations of the watershed. In the process, new conditions
are produced within which the region’s hydropolitics unfold. This is
epitomised by the ‘Lancang-Mekong Cooperation’ framework, a new
initiative led by China that proposes programs on both economic
and water resource development, and anticipates hydrodiplomacy
via China’s dam-engineered control of the headwaters.

China manages its transboundary rivers as a subset of its broader relations with other riparian states. This results in discernible differences in the way China approaches its international river systems. Although there is a limit to the extent of Chinese cooperation, in
relative terms China is more cooperative in the Mekong than in the Brahmaputra. To China, Southeast Asian states are part of a hierarchical system where it stands at the apex. While problems exist, there are deep linkages between them, which help foster collaboration in the
Mekong. India, which has greater power parity with China, is not part of China’s hierarchical worldview. The territorial disputes and security dilemmas that characterize South Asian geopolitics further impede cooperation. Domestic considerations also impact onChina’s river policies. There is greater consensus among Chinese policymakers in managing the Mekong than the Brahmaputra, which explains the higher degree of clarity in Chinese policies towards the former compared to the latter.

This chapter examines the transition from state-led hydrocracies to increasingly liberalized modes of water resources development in mainland Southeast Asia, with a focus on large hydropower dams on transboundary rivers. Access to, use of and control over water is highly politicized, and an increasingly diverse assemblage of public, private and civil society actors are involved in water governance. The region’s major rivers, including the Irrawaddy, Salween, Mekong and Red Rivers, are simultaneously seen as: engines of national and regional economic growth via  hydropower and irrigated agriculture; the foundation of rural livelihoods; of significant conservation value; and as cultural cornerstones/ sacred places. The chapter shows that trends in the use of water resources cannot be decoupled from broader trends towards regional economic integration, industrialization and economic growth, and that ecosystems and biodiversity are under increasing pressure, as are the rural livelihoods that depend upon these resources. The chapter argues that whilst state agencies with water-related mandates remain important, the interests of the private sector are of growing influence, especially for large hydropower dams.  The chapter concludes that as electricity and water governance are increasingly intertwined, poor transparency and accountability in electricity planning represents a significant challenge to improving water governance outcomes.

The Mekong River is the largest freshwater fishery and the third most bio-diverse river system in the world. Two of 11 planned mainstream hydropower projects, Xayaburi and Don Sahong, are nearly completed and a third project proposal, Pak Beng, has been submitted by the Lao PDR government for consideration. This paper builds on previous studies and examines the tradeoffs (between water use, food security supply and energy production) for the proposed mainstream hydropower projects in the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB). The paper concludes that the forecast loss of capture fisheries, sediment/nutrients and social mitigation costs measured as Net Present Value (NPV at 10% discount rate) are greater than the benefits from electricity generation, improved irrigation and flood control. The paper also forecasts huge negative economic impacts for Cambodia and Vietnam in contrast to previous Mekong River Commission's (MRC) conclusions that all countries will benefit from hydropower development. The paper recommends reassessing the economic impacts of hydropower development using full environmental cost accounting. It also recommends that a new LMB energy strategy be developed taking into account less hydropower income than previously anticipated, updated forecasts for LMB power demand and anticipated technology developments for improved energy efficiency & renewable energy (especially solar which is now competitive with hydropower).

The Mekong River supports a rich diversity of fish species and seasonally inundated riparian forest habitats, including those in the Siphandone Wetlands in Khong District, Champasak
Province, southern Laos and adjacent areas in Stung Treng and Kratie Provinces in northeastern Cambodia. However, there has been little systematic research done regarding the relationships between fishes and seasonally flooded forests in the Mekong River Basin. This paper confirms that terrestrial plants are important food sources for some important fish species, by means of a study of fish stomach contents conducted at Ban Hang Khone, a rural fishing village situated on an island in the Mekong River just below the Khone Falls. A total of 1,617 fish specimens belonging to at least 73 species, 52 genera and 20 families were examined. At least 35 species of forest fruits, 13 species of fresh leaves, and 3 species of flowers were found in fish stomachs along with bark, roots and a wide variety of other fish foods. Species in the family Pangasiidae were found to be the most important consumers of fruits and other fresh vascular plant material. Hypsibarbus spp., Tor tambroides, Leptobarbus hoeveni (Cyprinidae), Osphronemus exodon (Ospronemidae) and other fishes also consume considerable amounts of plant matter. Villagers mentioned 73 plant species believed to be consumed by fishes, including 9 suitable for baiting hooks for catching fish. The importance of seasonally inundated forests to the aquatic ecosystem of the Mekong River is considered, including the possible role of fishes as plant seed dispersers and predators. Flooded forests along the Mekong River are threatened by hydrological changes caused by the constructionof large dams both up and down river.

The first English translation of author George Groslier's 2,000 km Mekong River journeys to inspect Buddhist pagodas in 1929 French Indochina. The renowned artist, writer and historian was the quintessential witness to colonial Cambodia. This new fully illustrated edition includes supplemental appendices and the complete original French text.

1. Probarbus jullieni and Probarbus labeamajor are two of the largest carps in the Mekong River Basin, each reaching a maximum weight of about 70 kg. P. jullieni is listed in Appendix 1 of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, and both are listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the first as ‘endangered’ and the second as ‘data deficient’.
2. Six years of quantitative monitoring of a large-meshed gill net fishery for Probarbus just below the Khone Falls in Khong district, Champasak province, in southern Laos shows that 78% of the overall catch is comprised of Probarbus, with P. jullieni making up 65% of landings.
3. Over the 6-year period catches of Probarbus declined significantly. However, catch-per-unit effort statistics do not indicate that the fishery is in decline, although fishers are convinced that real stock reductions are a large part of the reason for catch declines and decreases in fishing effort.
4. A number of ecological and social factors are affecting the number and quality of gill nets in use, the length of fishing seasons, and gill net efficiency, making it difficult to compare catch-per-unit effort between years.
5. There has been a shift from using large-meshed gill nets for catching Probarbus to targeting smaller species using gill nets with smaller mesh-sizes. This is an example of the ‘fishing down’ of a Mekong fish community, in which large long-lived species are the first to be affected by heavy fishing pressure.

This case study of the Yali Falls Hydropower Dam in the Vietnamese portion of the Sesan River Basin demonstrates a range of institutional and political challenges encountered in the assessment of large-scale infrastructure projects with transboundary impacts. These challenges include the failure to implement standard international planning processes and the failure to follow due process in dam planning, construction and operation, despite having received funding for international expertise that could have enabled Vietnam to implement such standards. Weak technical and financial capacity on the part of the downstream country, Cambodia, has allowed the politically dominant upstream country, Vietnam, to impose its national interests on downstream communities in Vietnam and Cambodia. A transboundary impact assessment has only been implemented many years after construction was completed.

Over the past few years some governments and development organizations have increasingly articulated cross-border mobility as ‘trafficking in persons’. The notion of a market where traffickers prey on the ‘supply’ of migrants that flows across international borders to meet the ‘demand’ for labour has become a central trope among anti-trafficking development organizations. This article problematizes such economism by drawing attention to the oscillating cross- border migration of Lao sex workers within a border zone between Laos and Thailand. It illuminates the incongruity between the recruitment of women into the sex industry along the Lao–Thai border and the market models that are employed by the anti-trafficking sector. It discusses the ways in which these cross-border markets are conceived in a context where aid programming is taking on an increasingly important role in the politics of borders. The author concludes that allusions to ideal forms of knowledge (in the guise of classic economic theory) and an emphasis on borders become necessary for anti- trafficking programmes in order to make their object of intervention legible as well as providing post-hoc rationalizations for their continuing operation.

This paper studies environmental norm contestation in Cambodia’s
hydropower sector, exemplified by the Kamchay Dam. In Cambodia we can
observe different discourses in relation to hydropower. These stem directly from a
local contest over the path of Cambodia’s development, but use global norms as
reference points: one emphasizes environmental protection, using environmental
impact assessment (EIA) as point of reference; and one emphasizes the utility of
the clean development mechanism (CDM) to attract large-scale investment into
the energy sector while downplaying the need for environmental protection. While
EIA and CDM are complementary, key actors present them as contradictory. This
produces a normative fragmentation of the field of environmental protection. The
paper argues that the norm diffusion literature, by presenting norm conflicts as
hierarchical local
global conflicts, has paid insufficient attention to the fact that
local actors actively draw on global norms to justify domestic development policies.
More emphasis on this phenomenon will lead to a better understanding of the role
of global norms in domestic politics and will enhance our knowledge of how
domestic development policies are contested.

Irrawaddy dolphins Orcaella brevirostiris are found in coastal waters from the Bay of Bengal east to Palawan, Philippines and south to northern Australia. They also occur in three large tropical river systems in South-east Asia: the Mekong, Mahakam and Ayeyarwady. In March and May 1997 approximately 350 km of riverine habitat in parts of north-east Cambodia were surveyed, discussions took place with local people, and reported dry season dolphin habitat was mapped. Our objectives were to investigate the status, habitat and distribution of dolphins in north-east Cambodia and identify threats to the continued survival of dolphins in the Mekong River Basin. Nine groups of dolphins were observed in the Mekong River. A ‘best’ estimate of 40 animals were seen. Irrawaddy dolphins were generally confined to sections of the river with water levels >8–10 m during the dry season. It appears that the Mekong River dolphin population is rapidly declining. In 1997 there were probably no more than 100–150 dolphins left in north-east Cambodia (including southern Laos) and no more than 200 within the entire Mekong River Basin, although these numbers remain tentative. Anthropogenic mortality is high, albeit largely unintentional, and there is considerable risk that the dolphin population will become locally extinct in the Mekong River in the near future. The establishment of community-managed deep water Fish Conservation Zones with government support may represent the best opportunity for reducing dry season dolphin mortality from large-meshed gillnet entanglement. Efforts to establish protected areas for dolphins are currently underway.

A synthesis of catch data from southern Laos and life-history information indicate that adult Pangasius krempfi, an important Asian catfish, migrates up the Mekong River from the South China Sea in Vietnam past Cambodia, arriving in southern Laos each year in May. Strontium concentrations in the otoliths of river-caught P. krempfi are, on average, three to four times higher than the levels of strontium in the otoliths of related freshwater species, indicating marine and estuary habitation for fish caught in southern Laos. Pangasius krempfi muscle tissue samples from the same fish also exhibit stable isotope (d15N and d13C) values characteristic of marine environments. The results of this investigation support the conclusion that P. krempfi is anadromous, spending a part of its life at sea and in the brackish water of the Mekong Delta before returning to spawn in fresh water. The fish travels at least 720 km to the Khone Falls in southern Laos, and possibly further. Spawning probably occurs in fresh water from June to August at which time young fish move down the Mekong River to the Mekong Delta. The data answer a previously unresolved question (the long-distance migratory behaviour of P. krempfi) and have important implications for the management and conservation of Mekong River fishes.

Along the Mekong, where it creates the border between Thailand and Laos, distant hydropower projects have triggered a transformation. Strange floods and ebbs disrupt fish migrations, undercut riverbanks, and sweep away nets. Facing this new landscape, fishermen on the Mekong seek out new, hidden sources of potency that have revealed themselves as well as identifying those old powers that have eroded. Via an ethnographic study of Mekong "river beings," this article addresses a reconfiguration of sources of power on the river away from the proximate and material, and towards the inaccessible, distant, and spectral.