Three Megafish Species Imperiled by Lao’s Mekong River Dam

Three Megafish Species Imperiled by Lao’s Mekong River Dam

Click on the link to get more news and video from original source:  http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/12/27/three-megafish-species-imperiled-by-laos-mekong-river-dam/

Posted by Zeb Hogan

in Water Currents

on December 27, 2012

On November 7, 2012, the government of Lao PDR held an official groundbreaking ceremony for the Xayaburi dam, the first mainstream dam on the Lower Mekong River.

The Xayaburi dam, the first of eleven dams planned for the mainstream of the lower Mekong River, will likely reduce ecosystem service values and undercut livelihoods of people living in Thailand, Lao PDR, Cambodia, and Vietnam.  A recent Mekong River Commission study reports that the cumulative impacts of the planned dams in Lao PDR could disrupt the lifecycles of migratory fish, block access or destroy spawning grounds, and reduce catch by 270,000 to 600,000 metric tons.

This is especially significant because the Mekong is one of the most biodiverse and productive rivers on Earth.  It is a global hotspot for freshwater fishes: over 1,000 species have been recorded there, second only to the Amazon.  The Mekong River is also the most productive inland fishery in the world.  The total harvest of approximately 2.5 million metric tons per year is valued at $3,600,000,000 to $6,500,000,000.

The Xayaburi dam also poses a serious threat to several of the largest, and rarest, freshwater fish in the world, including the critically endangered Mekong giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas), the critically endangered giant pangasius (Pangasius sanitwongsei), and the endangered seven-striped barb (Probarbus jullieni).

Evidence suggests that these species, particularly the Mekong giant catfish and giant pangasius, are vulnerable to threats from Xayaburi dam because of their migratory behavior, requirements for specific water quality and flow, and complex life history, which is dependent on seasonal floods.

The official environmental impact report for the Xayaburi project does not assess the dam’s effects on these, and many other migratory and Red Listed, species.  Depending on the scale of migrations and location of spawning sites, the Xayaburi could cause the extirpation of the Mekong’s giant fishes over a large (hundreds of kilometers) area and put basinwide populations on a steep trajectory of decline.

Several groups, including the Mekong River Commission, have called for a ten-year moratorium on mainstream dams to better assess the long-term social and environmental costs of such projects.  Such large-scale assessments have become common on rivers where managers seek to rebuild migratory fish stocks but are urgently needed at the outset of projects to avoid unnecessary destruction of ecosystem services and costly restoration efforts.  The long-term viability of vulnerable fish populations – and people who depend on fish for food – is dependent on the ability to minimize the impacts of any mainstream dams built on the lower Mekong River.

Megafish at Risk

At least five species of giant fish occur in the vicinity of the Xayaburi site and the three largest and most endangered, the Mekong giant catfish, giant pangasius, and seven-striped barb, will suffer the most serious consequences if the dam is built.

Mekong giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas)

A Khmer man travels with a 353-pound, 8-foot-long Mekong giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas) on the Tonle Sap River in Cambodia. Photograph courtesy of Zeb Hogan.

The critically endangered Mekong giant catfish, a Mekong endemic, reaches a maximum length of 300 centimeters (118 inches) and a total weight exceeding 300 kilograms (660 pounds).  Based on catch data and genetic studies, it is likely that the Mekong giant catfish, though extremely rare, remains widespread throughout the basin.  It also appears likely that the behemoth uses the stretch of river of the Xayaburi dam as a migration corridor.

If the Xayaburi dam is built, it could alter Mekong flows and disrupt spawning cues, block spawning migrations, and slow downstream dispersal.  Some mortality may also occur if fish pass through dam turbines.  Impacts from Mekong mainstream dams could conceivably cause the extinction of the species.

Giant pangasius (Pangasius sanitwongsei)

The critically endangered giant pangasius catfish grows to 3 meters (10 feet) and 300 kilograms (660 pounds).  It once occurred in both the Chao Phraya and Mekong rivers, but wild self-sustaining populations are now limited to the Mekong.  The giant pangasius catfish is a main river species.  Adults seem to favor the deep pool areas of Chiang Saen, Chiang Khong, Loei, Xayaburi, Stung Treng, and Kratie, while the young are widespread in the main channel, especially along the Thai-Lao border and in Cambodia downstream of Kratie.

The giant pangasius, like many fish species in the Mekong River, migrates between habitats, requires specific water quality and flow, and has a complex life history dependent on migration and seasonal floods.  Mature fish migrate up the Mekong River and spawn in April and May at unknown spawning grounds.  Adult fish occur in both Chiang Rai and Loei Provinces in Thailand, and young fish occur along the Thai-Lao border from Nong Khai to Nakorn Phanom.  This suggests not only that giant pangasius occur at the Xayaburi site, but that the Xayaburi site is within the migratory corridor and may be in the vicinity of a spawning area.

More information is needed about the distribution and behavior of giant pangasius, but it appears very likely that the Xayaburi dam site is critical habitat for the species.  Construction of the dam could disrupt migratory behavior and spawning.  Once the dam is built, it may alter water flows and cues to migration, block upstream spawning migrations, and slow downstream dispersal.  Some mortality may also occur if fish pass through dam turbines.  Impacts from the dam could conceivably cause the extirpation of the giant pangasius from the Mekong River.

Seven-striped barb (Probarbus jullieni)

Seven-striped barbs. Photo: Lerdsuwa, Wikimedia Commons

The seven-striped barb occurred historically in Mekong, Chao Phraya, and Meklong basins in Southeast Asia and the Pahang and Perak basins of Malaysia.  Adult seven-striped barb appear to prefer main river habitats, whereas juveniles will enter floodplain habitats during the rainy season.  As recently as 1989, the seven-striped barb was reported as “extremely abundant” in the Mekong, but subsequent accounts indicate a significant drop.

The seven-striped barb occurs in the area that will be impacted by the Xayaburi dam.  The fish is migratory: adults migrate upstream in the dry season and form spawning aggregations.  Large fish remain in deep pools during low water.  Young fish enter floodplain habitats during the rainy season.  The Xayaburi dam could impact spawning sites, upstream migration of adults, and downstream dispersal of young.

Operation of the dam (variable flows) could also impact spawning triggers and dry season habitat.  Depending on the exact location of the spawning sites and the distance the species migrates, the Xayaburi dam could impact seven-striped barb populations within several hundred kilometers of the dam site.

The True Face of Laos

The True Face of Laos

Click on the link to get more news and video from original source:  http://blogs.cfr.org/asia/2013/01/05/the-true-face-of-laos/

by Joshua Kurlantzick
January 5, 2013

Laos honor guards and members of military orchestra sit behind guns as they prepare to welcome another foreign delegation arriving at Vientiane airport.

The tiny country of Laos does not normally get much attention from policymakers or the international media, at least since the Vietnam War; but in Obama’s first term, the administration put a focus on Laos as one of the Mekong Region countries with which Washington would push for closer relations. This push came partly to reaffirm the United States’ presence in mainland Southeast Asia, which had diminished during the Bush administration, in part because of apathy, and in part because of sanctions and restrictions on relations with several Mekong nations. It also came partly because several Mekong region nations, including Laos, seemed increasingly uncomfortable with how dependent they had become on China for investment, aid, military-military relations, and diplomatic relations, and increasingly angry at China’s dams on the upper portion of the Mekong River, which were seriously affecting downstream water flows. Hillary Clinton became the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Laos in decades, the United States increased its aid budget for Greater Mekong nations, and it has boosted limited military-military contacts.

In some ways, Laos has seemed to be opening up, consistent with the Obama administration’s beliefs that greater contacts with the authoritarian and long-closed nation would help integrate it better into regional organizations, global trade, and regional security apparatuses. Laos’ government has projected that its GDP will rise by a staggering 12 percent in 2012-13’s fiscal year, due in part to growing construction projects in the capital and other sites, new mining, and new hydropower plants.  The country has aggressively courted investment from Thailand and other neighbors, and has been accepted for membership in the World Trade Organization. A small window of political and social change appeared as well: a popular Laos call-in radio show had begun broaching sensitive topics like land concessions and land grabbing, as well as the environmentally destructive aspects of some investments entering Laos. Vientiane elites seemed to be able to speak more freely about the government, and allowed several foreign academics to come lecture to local universities.

But in recent months, it has become clearer that, despite the investment and better relations with the United States and other Western nations, the Lao government remains extremely opaque and paranoid about any domestic criticism. In fact, with Burma opening up, Laos is now the most closed and repressive state in Asia outside of North Korea.  Last year, the call-in show, News Talk, was abruptly forced off the air. Then, in an even more shocking turn of events, in December Laos’ most well-known activist, Sombath Somphone, vanished. According to several news reports, he was held at a police post in the capital and then taken away in another truck which had stopped at the police post. Despite his high profile in Asia—he received the prominent Ramon Magsagsay Award for his community activism—his whereabouts remain unknown, even though, by the standards of political activism in neighboring states like Thailand, Malaysia, or the Philippines, he was hardly even critical of his government.

Will Washington alter its rapprochement with Laos in the face of these disturbing events? Given that the administration has continued building closer ties with neighboring Cambodia despite the deteriorating rights climate there, it seems unlikely.

—

Laos pressed on activist disappearance – FT.com

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c7992d30-57e2-11e2-b997-00144feab49a.html#axzz2HOAknNC9

The UN and some western governments are preparing to put fresh questions to the Lao government over the mysterious disappearance in mid-December of a prominent education and health campaigner, after Vientiane late last week rejected suggestions by……

A Cold War Road Not Taken: Laos, not Vietnam, was almost the battleground for Southeast Asia

A Cold War Road Not Taken

Laos, not Vietnam, was almost the battleground for Southeast Asia, says
Seth Jacobs – and the reason it wasn’t makes for a valuable history lesson

10/04/12

Click on the link to get more news and video from original source: http://www.bc.edu/content/bc/publications/chronicle/FeaturesNewsTopstories/2012/features/jacobs100412.html

By Sean Smith | Chronicle Editor

Seth Jacobs (Photo by Lee Pellegrini)

Published: Oct. 4, 2012

It sounds likes an intriguing “what-if” question of 20th century American foreign policy: What if the US had chosen Laos, instead of Vietnam, as the battleground to oppose what experts saw as the spread of communism in Southeast Asia?

In fact, as Associate Professor of History Seth Jacobs explains, this scenario almost happened.

“During the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations, Laos received at least as much attention as — or even more than — Vietnam,” says Jacobs, author of the recently published The Universe Unraveling: American Foreign Policy in Cold War Laos. The US paid 100 percent of Laos’ military budget, he notes, equipped Laotian tribespeople to fight against communist guerillas, and weighed using atomic weapons to counter communist attacks on the Laotian capital, Vientiane — which could have triggered nuclear war with the Soviet Union.

“Laos was not a sideshow in the 1950s and early ’60s. When Eisenhower briefed Kennedy prior to JFK’s inauguration, they hardly talked about flashpoints like Cuba, Berlin, the Congo, or Vietnam. They discussed Laos.”

Laos, however, became a largely forgotten aspect of the US-Vietnam conflict. Now, in The Universe Unraveling, Jacobs throws a spotlight on the events, circumstances, and in particular the perceptions and attitudes that shaped American decision-making in Laos.

While logistical considerations have been cited for the US decision to focus its Southeast Asian strategy on South Vietnam instead of Laos, Jacobs says there is another, darker explanation: Cultural differences prompted Americans to dismiss the Lao as morally, intellectually and spiritually inferior, lazy, weak, incapable of standing up to communist aggression — and thus unworthy of US support.

“The accepted explanation for why the US chose South Vietnam over Laos had to do with geography: that Laos was a landlocked, mountainous country, a terrible place to fight. Laos had important advantages, though, including a thousand-mile border with Thailand, which was willing to allow the US to use it as a base to launch operations against the communists.

“But when you read archival material and other accounts of the era, what you see is ethnocentrism, a poisonous contempt for an entire country.”

The Wall Street Journal, for example, claimed the “very passive” Laotian people “do not care one way or another about communism or other big questions,” while Newsweek said, “No one is less interested in the struggle for his country than the gentle Lao.” American diplomats referred to Laos as “Never-Never Land” and “The Land of Oz,” and one prominent US missionary called the Lao “retarded children.”

Jacobs says the purpose of The Universe Unraveling is not to speculate on how history might have changed with Laos as the arena for the Southeast Asian conflict, nor is it to simply bash Americans’ unsavory attitudes toward the Lao.

“The experience in Laos should be seen as a cautionary tale,” he explains. “People with impressive educational and professional credentials convinced themselves that their take on Laos and its people was solid — but they misread almost everything.”

Laos was in an unenviable position in the 1950s and ’60s (“the Poland of the Far East,” Jacobs says), bordered by historic enemies China and Vietnam, as well as Thailand — which wanted Laos as a buffer against North Vietnam. Exacerbating the situation was a civil war between the US-backed Royal Lao Government (RLG), the communist Pathet Lao, and a neutralist front.

“Neutrality was the only option for Lao patriots seeking to keep their nation intact, independent and at peace. Anticommunism would have led to balkanization and foreign control, a point the RLG tried to make over and over.”

American statesmen, diplomats and media members, looking through a Cold War lens and with little appreciation of Laos’ historical and political complexities, says Jacobs, were frustrated by what they perceived as the country’s inability or unwillingness to adhere to a strong, purposeful anti-communist policy. Cultural differences worsened this mind-set.

“In American eyes, the Lao didn’t demonstrate sufficiently ‘masculine’ behavior. The neutralist leader, Kong Le, wept in public and seemed earnest but clueless. Lao statesmen spoke softly, smiled while being hectored, rarely interrupted, and never invaded someone’s personal space. This gave the impression of a people who were apathetic, infantile and non-confrontational.

“What nobody seemed to see was that not all Lao were battle-shy — only the royalists were. Kong Le captured Vientiane with a single battalion and held it for four months. The Pathet Lao also fought with valor against better-armed opposition.”

Under Eisenhower and Kennedy, Jacobs says, Laos became a “testing ground” for strategies that came of age in Vietnam, and which produced similar problems — support of unpopular but pro-Western despots, clashes between US civilian and military bureaucracies, and ignorance of the native population’s needs.

Ultimately, Kennedy rejected the Eisenhower-initiated support for the Lao right wing and accepted a neutralist government. But this decision made a military solution in Vietnam harder to avoid, Jacobs says.

“Kennedy’s dovishness in Laos paradoxically dictated hawkishness in Vietnam. He felt he had to confront the communists in Southeast Asia, but Vietnam — whose people were judged to be of far sterner stuff than those of Laos — was going to be the place.”

Save the Mekong Press Release: As Mekong Leaders Gather, Public Awaits Answers on Xayaburi Dam

Save the Mekong Press Release: For Immediate Release

As Mekong Leaders Gather, Public Awaits Answers on Xayaburi Dam

1 May 2012

Phuket, Thailand –As the Mekong River Commission (MRC) member countries gather today for the MRC’s Mekong 2 Rio International Conference on Transboundary River Basin Management,  the Save the Mekong coalition has called upon regional governments to immediately address the ambiguities that have been left unanswered with respect to the future of the Xayaburi Dam and other mainstream dams.

On April 20th, the Save the Mekong coalition sent letters to the MRC’s respective Council members and CEO Mr. Hans Guttman asking for clarification on whether the prior consultation process for the Xayaburi Dam remains open and whether approval has been granted to build the Xayaburi Dam.  These concerns follow the April 17th announcement by Xayaburi Dam developer Ch. Karnchang that it had signed a $711 million construction contract with the Xayaburi Power Company, and that construction on the dam commenced on March 15, 2012.

“Ch. Karnchang has no right to build this project because no regional agreement has been made,” said Niwat Roykaew, Chair of the Chiang Khong Conservation Group in Thailand. “In December, the four governments agreed to postpone the decision on the dam, in order to carry out a transboundary impact assessment of the Mekong mainstream dams.  Thailand and Laos must act decisively and demand a stop to all construction activities.”

The Save the Mekong coalition also expressed concern over reports that the Thai government had signed the Xayaburi Dam’s power purchase agreement and granted permission for state-owned Krung Thai Bank to fund this dam, which appears to be in direct violation with the 1995 Mekong Agreement.  The coalition urged Thailand to immediately withdraw all involvement in the dam.

“The MRC’s prior consultation process is not finished, and yet construction is starting. Thailand and Laos are endangering the entire future of the Mekong River Basin,” said Pianporn Deetes, Thailand Campaign Coordinator for International Rivers. “Before regional cooperation becomes jeopardized, it’s time the four countries renew their commitment to work together to protect the Mekong.”

“The Xayaburi Dam is not on the agenda of the Mekong2Rio conference, but will be the elephant in the room,” said Youra Sun, Executive Director of My Village in Cambodia. “Now is the time to spotlight the urgent need for the Mekong governments to chart a clear political path forward on the Xayaburi Dam.”

Tu Dao Trong, a representative of Vietnam Rivers Network said, “If the Mekong governments really want to discuss the future of transboundary cooperation around the Mekong River, they first need to agree on an immediate halt to the Xayaburi Dam while further studies are underway. We hope this conference becomes an opportunity for real dialogue.”

The Save the Mekong coalition’s April 20th letter stated that “scientific evidence to date overwhelmingly supports our position that these dams will cause significant and irreparable damage to the Mekong River and the people who depend on it.” The coalition has called upon regional governments to work together to protect the Mekong River as the river is central to the lives, ecology, and cultures of the region.

The Save the Mekong coalition fully supports the actions of Thai villagers from the Mekong region, who have traveled to Phuket and will be presenting a petition to the MRC member governments this morning to raise awareness about the Xayaburi Dam and call for its cancellation.

Mekong 2 Rio is considered a key regional event in the run-up to the United Nations’ Rio+20 Summit on Sustainable Development that world leaders will attend in Brazil in June. The Xayaburi Dam has become one of the most controversial sustainable development issues in Southeast Asia.

Contacts:

• Dr. Tu Dao Trong, Representative of Vietnam Rivers Network. T: +84 913 236 542, E: tudaotrong49@yahoo.com.vn
• Ms. Pianporn Deetes, Thailand Campaign Coordinator, International Rivers. T: +66 81 422 0111, E: pai@internationalrivers.org
• Mr. Niwat Roykaew, Chair of the Chiang Khong Conservation Group in Thailand. T: +66 89 955 7890, E: mekonglover@hotmail.com
• Mr. Sun Youra, Executive Director, My Village, Cambodia, T: +855 16 590 111, E: myvillage@mvicambodia.org

For more information:
Read the Save the Mekong letters sent to the MRC Council Members and CEO

Click on the link to get more news and video from original source:  http://www.internationalrivers.org/

—

Protestors Condemn Ch. Karnchang Over Xayaburi Dam Construction

Thai villagers gather ouside Ch. Karnchang Headquarters to protest construction of the Xayaburi Dam

The Mekong River sustains the lives of millions of people living in the region

Dams in Laos may kill fishing in Cambodia

Click on the link to get more news and video from original source:  http://www.futurity.org/earth-environment/dams-in-laos-may-kill-fishing-in-cambodia/

"The revenue will come to Laos, by exporting energy to Thailand and Vietnam," says researcher Guy Ziv, "and the fish will be lost in the floodplains of Cambodia and Vietnam, but mainly in Cambodia." (Credit: Mekong River fishing via Shutterstock)

Earth & Environment – Posted by Steve Tung-Stanford on Monday, April 2, 2012 15:00

STANFORD (US) — Planned dams in Southeast Asia would harm fish productivity and biodiversity in the world’s largest inland fishery, a new study says.

The new dams, planned for tributaries of the Mekong River in Southeast Asia, will be more environmentally destructive and will produce less energy than the dams in the main river, according to Stanford University researcher Guy Ziv.

“You can get the same energy production with very different environmental impact, depending on which dams you build,” says Ziv, a postdoctoral scholar in biology and the lead author of a study recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The study looked at 27 tributary dams planned for construction between 2015 and 2030. The future of those dams is still to be decided, but if built they would significantly affect fishing. Laos plans to build 26 of the 27 dams, but the most significant effects will be felt in the fisheries of neighboring Cambodia.

Dams block fish from migrating, and more than a million tons of freshwater fish are harvested in Vietnam and Cambodia annually.

“The revenue will come to Laos, by exporting energy to Thailand and Vietnam,” Ziv says, “and the fish will be lost in the floodplains of Cambodia and Vietnam, but mainly in Cambodia.”

“[The loss of fish] translates to a big impact on food security of a very poor population,” he says. “There is a huge population that relies on a cheap food supply from fish, and their livelihood will be impacted.”

Tributary dams

The international Mekong River Commission, a coalition of Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand, regulates the dams in the main stream of the Mekong River. However, the individual nations regulate the offshoot tributary dams and only need to notify the commission, rather than seek its approval. Ziv’s study focused mainly on tributary dams, an often-overlooked area of environmental impact, he says.

The commission is considering scenarios including these 27 tributary dams, and up to 11 mainstream dams in the lower Mekong River Basin.

If only the planned tributary dams are built, the migratory fish population in the Mekong will decline by 19 percent, according to Ziv’s computer projections. If, however, six of the mainstream dams are built, the fish population will decline by only 7 percent, while the dams will produce 49 percent more power.

Using the computer models, Ziv and his collaborators calculated the energy production and the loss of fish if certain dams were built. They used that model on every configuration of building or not building any of the 27 dams, resulting in more than 130 million scenarios. This data allows planners to quickly identify which scenarios produce the best results.

“If you want a certain amount of energy, [our calculations showed] which dams you should build to minimize the impacts on food production,” Ziv says.

Results

Cambodia’s only planned tributary dam of the 27, the Lower Se San 2 Dam, is the most disruptive. “Lower Se San 2 Dam is probably good to be avoided, unless you need all the energy you can supply,” Ziv says. The Cambodian government approved the dam last year, although construction has yet to begin.

The next most damaging dams would be those built in Sekong Province in Laos. “The benefits are questionable, unless you really need more than 15 terawatt hours per year,” says Ziv.

“Our results really suggest that some dams can and should be avoided,” Ziv says. “It calls for some change in the international agreement in the area.”

Furthermore the amount of fish lost correlates with the number of endangered species affected. Biodiversity provides a role in supporting the ecosystem, although that role is vague, underestimated and hard to give an economic value, Ziv says.

“This is a first step,” he says. “Getting a more complete picture requires getting the impact on sediments and the social costs. We hope something along this line can be done [in the future] in collaboration with the stakeholders.”

More news from Stanford: http://news.stanford.edu/

Click on the link to get more news and video from original source:  http://www.futurity.org/earth-environment/dams-in-laos-may-kill-fishing-in-cambodia/