IT WAS not the most important event to honour the reign of the world’s longest-serving monarch. But it means Thai fishermen have taken an essential step to saving the world’s largest freshwater fish, the Mekong giant catfish.
On 9 June, Thailand marked King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 60th year on the throne. A crowd of over half a million people gathered in the nation’s capital, Bangkok, prisoners were released, and fishermen in the north of the country declared they would no longer catch the Mekong giant catfish. Instead, they will hand over their nets to the government, in return for $500 per net.…
