Cambodia information center

In 2000, China signed an agreement on commercial navigation with Myanmar, Laos and Thailand to permits ships of up to 500 tons to trade between Yunnan and Luang Prabang, a distance of 886 kilometers. The maximum size of vessels previously able to navigate this stretch of the river was only 120 tons, so to allow larger ships to pass, China agreed to carry out the removal of all major rapids, shoals and reefs that obstructed navigation. As with the dam developments, downstream countries – Cambodia and Vietnam – were not consulted. According to Tyson Roberts the eventual Chinese goal is actually to succeed where the French failed, and make the Mekong navigable all the way to the South China Sea. The construction of the upstream dams is also a tool to that end, allowing the maintenance of navigable water levels throughout the dry season. This has already occurred, as during the very low-year levels of March- April 2004 extra water was released from the Manwan and Dachaoshan dams to raise t...

Major developments on the Mekong which are likely to conflict with fisheries interests include various proposed irrigation projects, hydro-electric power projects, other industrial development and flood control projects. Dam construction and operation will change the hydrology of the river downstream, reducing seasonal flow peaks and minimizing access to floodplains for feeding and spawning. Changes in water quality and the timing of peak flows are likely to have adverse effects on fish migrations and spawning, and dams will create obvious problems for long distance longitudinal migrants.Impoundment will reduce sediment flow, particularly in the main channels, and thereby affect the nutrient regime downstream (Pantulu, 1986b).The water quality in the lower Mekong has been affected by domestic wastes and agricultural runoff carrying pesticides and fertilizers. Though localized at present, such problems are expected to increase.

Uncoordinated development, particularly between countries sharing watersheds, is the greatest threat to the future of the Mekong ecosystem. The Sesan, Sekong and Srepok are the three great tributary rivers of north-east Cambodia. Fishing in the mountains of Vietnam and Laos they come together to join the Mekong at Stung Treng.In 2001 the Vietnamese began operation of the Yali Falls dam on the Sesan – the first of a cascade of four such hydro-power projects they plan for the river, although only 70km upstream of the Cambodian border, the Cambodians were never consulted on its construction.

For the purposes of the original Yali Falls EIA –conducted with Swiss Government funding for the Mekong River Commission (MRC) – the downstream area was defined as only 8km below the dam, thus ignoring Cambodia totally. In addition, after completions no prior warnings of water releases, resulting in deaths of local people living along the river and an international incident. Local villagers have also reported negative impacts on the Sesan’s fisheries, and increased siltation has apparently decreased the depth of one of the river’s most important deep pools from 7-8m to just half a meter. In 2003 a study on the Sesan’s breeding birds demonstrated the impacts of changing flow regimes on some of the region’s most at-risk bird populations. Not only were changing patterns of sedimentation and erosion reducing available habitat, but 50% of River Lapwing nests located during the study were destroyed by sudden fluctuations in water releases from the dam.

Downstream from Phnom Penh towards the sea, most of the Mekong’s natural habitat has long gone. The Vietnamese delta, once known as the Plain of Reeds is now a plain of irrigated rice. A vast, monotonous, monoculture, with the only natural habitat confined to tiny, shrinking islands.The last significant remnant of the true delta is Boeng Prek Lapou, 10,000ha in southern Cambodia’s Takeo Province. Seasonally inundated grassland forming vast mats Vietnam has long and what the whole delta would have once looked like. Boeung Prek Lapou was only discovered by government biologists in 2000 due to the presence of Sarus Cranes. An emblem of the Mekong Delta, they were considered restricted to two small remaining areas in Vietnam. Boeung Prek Lapou was rapidly found to be the most important site for Sarus Cranes anywhere in the delta.Yet at the same time it was threatened by an agricultural development project that would convert the last remaining natural wetland into irrigated rice. Fortunatel...

The appearance of this photograph confirmed those beliefs for many. However, it soon proved to be a hoax and is in fact of an Oarfish Regalecus glesne, the particular animal was found by US soldiers on a beach near a military base in south California in 1996 – nowhere near the Mekong – and is now preserved at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography

Perhaps the most bizarre marine animal claimed to exist in the Mekong involves the recent story of the Naga. Around the year 2000 a photograph began to appear widely in the region showing a huge fish being held by a group of soldiers. It was titled “Queen of Nagas seized by American Army at Mekong River, Laos Military Base on June 27, 1973 with the length of 7.80 meters. “The Naga, an underwear serpent of Hindu and Buddhist mythology, has long been associated with the Mekong, and local communities in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia still believe that is lives in caves under the river. The appearance of this photograph confirmed those beliefs for many. However, it soon proved to be a hoax and is in fact of an Oarfish Regalecus glesne, the particular animal was found by US soldiers on a beach near a military base in south California in 1996 – nowhere near the Mekong – and is now preserved at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography