No Fish Tale: Thais Catch 646-Pound Catfish

Jun 30, 9:52 AM EDT

No Fish Tale: Thais Catch 646-Pound Fish

By DANIEL LOVERING
Associated Press Writer

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- This big one did not get away. Thai fishermen netted a
646-pound catfish believed to have been the world's largest freshwater fish ever
caught in Thailand, a researcher said Thursday.

The nearly 9-foot-long Mekong giant catfish was landed May 1 by villagers in
Chiang Khong, a remote district in northern Thailand, and weighed by Thai
fisheries department officials, said Zeb Hogan, who leads an international
project to locate and study the world's largest freshwater fish species.

He confirmed it was the heaviest fish on record since Thailand started keeping
such statistics in 1981.

The fishermen had hoped to sell the fish to environmental groups, which planned
to release it to spawn upriver, but it died before it could be handed over and
then was chopped up and sold in pieces to villagers as food.

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Hogan, whose work is funded by the World Wildlife Fund and the National
Geographic Society, said he is planning to write a paper about the catch for a
scientific journal.

"That's the best way to document this kind of thing," he told The Associated
Press by telephone.

The Mekong giant catfish was listed as critically endangered in 2003 after
research showed its numbers had fallen by at least 80 percent in the past 13
years.

Fishermen believe the catfish species has been declining largely because of dams
and environmental damage along the Mekong River - home to more species of giant
fish than any other river, said an earlier statement by WWF and the society.


(photo at website)

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