HERE is an Asian fish tale with a difference, or is it deja vu? Swap the Mekong for the Murray and you'll understand what I mean.
NSW Department of Primary Industries research scientist at Narrandera Fisheries Centre, Dr Lee Baumgartnew, said the two-year project, funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, would allow Australian scientists to help their Laos counterparts develop techniques to help fish migrate past dams and weirs, and rehabilitate declining fisheries.
Dr Baumgartner said the Mekong River was home to more than 1000 native fish species and was one of the world's most diverse river systems, containing unique freshwater dolphins, stingrays and large freshwater catfish.
"However, recent construction of thousands of dams and weirs has obstructed fish migrations throughout the Mekong Basin,'' Dr Baumgartner said.
"Fish are a major source of food and protein for communities along the Mekong, but in some areas the dams and weirs have caused fish to decline so rapidly that river communities are starting to suffer.''
The ACIAR project will seek to determine the swimming ability of migratory fish by constructing an experimental fishway - a channel that allows fish to migrate around or through an obstruction.
Dr Baumgartner said fishways had been widely constructed in Australia and were effective at providing migration pathways for native fish.
In Laos, there are no functional fishways.
Scientists will initially install the experimental fishway on a known migration barrier and use it to determine the maximum swimming speed of Mekong River fish.
Once this is known, the team will build and install a permanent fish ladder based on the parameters determined in these experiments.
The fish ladder will provide a pathway for fish to continue their upstream migrations. If successful, these structures will be built in other areas of Laos where fish communities are in decline.
Dr Baumgartner said the research would have direct application in Australia, because many fish families found in the Mekong also existed here.
"Although most Australian fishways are successful for large fish species, scientists have had significant trouble assisting the migrations of very small fish species,'' he said.
"Small species are abundant in the Mekong River, so we hope information generated from the research will allow the construction of more efficient fishways in Australia.''
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