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Reserves created to protect Mekong Delta’s dwindling freshwater fish stocks

HCM CITY — Scientists hope that two new fish reserves in southern Viet Nam will halt the rapidly dwindling supply of fresh water fish in the Mekong Delta area.

Stocks of freshwater fish have fallen dramatically, mostly due to contaminated water, scientists say.

Increasing use of explosives by fishermen have also led to a depleted fish stock.

Dr Nguyen Huu Chiem of Can Tho University’s Agriculture Department said the heavy use of fertilisers and pesticides had polluted the water, killing many species of marine life.

In the last three years, the water surface for freshwater fishing in the U Minh forest dropped from 11, 000 to 1,000ha.

The largest sources of freshwater fish are found in the U Minh forests in Kien Giang province and the Lung Ngoc Hoang area in Can Tho province.

In an effort to develop the fish stock, Chiem and several foreign experts in 2000 chose the Nga Ngay canal in the Can Tho Province as the site for the Delta’s first fish reserve.

The Nga Ngay site receives many species of fresh water fish that flock there as the rainy season ends. The reserve is a 2km-long dredged canal that provides a hospitable habitat for many kinds of fresh water fish.

About 75 fishing households in the reserve area have pledged not to cast nets for immature fish, or use explosives or electric appliances to catch fish, Chiem said.

The success of the reserve has led scientists to create a new site currently being studied in a pre-feasibility project. The new reserve, which has received the government’s approval, will be located in Lung Ngoc Hoang in Can Tho province.

The proposed 2,800ha reserve is home to 77 species of fresh water fish and four species of shrimp.

Other Mekong River lower basin countries like Laos and Cambodia have also established fish reserve parks and issued regulations to protect marine life in rivers.

Scientists hope that the Can Tho reserve will re-establish the delta as the country’s biggest fresh water fish reserve, as it was three years ago. — VNS