National Geographic.com has another installment on the continuing work of Zeb and the Megafishes Project.

The Chinese sturgeon is fighting for its existence. National Geographic.com has the full story.

 National Geographic.com has a news story on the Chinese Paddlefish, a giant river fish thought to be extinct.

University of Nevada’s “Silver and Blue” magazine has a feature on Zeb and the MegaFishes Project. To read the whole story, click here.

National Geographic.com has the first part of a special news series on the Megafishes Project.

Feature story on Zeb Hogan in SE Asia 2 Magazine. To read it, click here.

Feature story on the MegaFishes project in Science magazine. To see the article, click here.

THE PILOT YEAR - 2006
The project team spent the pilot year 2006 working on expeditions to the Mekong and Selenge/Baikal (Mongolia) and laying the ground work for future missions to rivers throughout Asia, South America, and North America.

RESULTS - 2006
As a result of project leader Dr. Zeb Hogan’s work with the governments of Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos, it is now illegal to capture the Mekong giant catfish in those countries as of summer 2006.

The MegaFishes Project has teamed with the Cambodian Department of Fisheries and the Mekong Wetland Biodiversity Program to create one of the world’s first freshwater conservation concessions – a special fishing area in the Tonle Sap River aimed at protecting some of the world’s largest freshwater fish species, including the giant stingray and giant barb. Dr. Hogan worked with the local organization, Save Cambodia’s Wildlife, to produce a children’s book on the conservation of freshwater biodiversity. The book is beautifully illustrated by Cambodian artists and printed in Khmer and English. The book intertwines a story of the seasons of a giant catfish’s life with those of a young Cambodian boy named Samnang. When the huge fish, who becomes a friend of Samnang’s, is caught by fishermen, the boy persuades the men to let her go because the fish “is special and very rare.”

In the Golden Triangle of northern Thailand, project biologists have established a network of over two dozen fishermen to help track the migration of the giant fish of the Mekong. They hope to discover the fish’s spawning grounds and other behavior critical to the fish’s survival. Together with the Thai Department of Fisheries and the Mekong Giant Catfish Fishermen’s Club, the MegaFishes Project bought, tagged, and released a Mekong giant catfish in honor of the king of Thailand’s 60th anniversary of his ascension to the throne. In addition, there was a net buy back in Thailand in June 2006. This was timed around the annual ceremony to worship the “giant catfish god” and done in honor of the king. Fishermen from Chiang Khong agreed to stop fishing for giant catfish and put 68 fishing nets, worth over 1.3 million baht ($34,000 USD), on sale as a symbol of their commitment.