Data from: Using local ecological knowledge to monitor threatened Mekong megafauna in Lao PDR

Pressures on freshwater biodiversity in Southeast Asia are accelerating yet the status and conservation needs of many of the region’s threatened fish species are unclear. This impacts the ability to implement conservation activities and to understand the effects of infrastructure developments and other hydrological changes. We used Local Ecological Knowledge from fishing communities on the Mekong River in the Siphandone waterscape, Lao PDR to estimate mean and mode last capture dates of eight rare or culturally significant fish species in order to provide conservation monitoring baselines. One hundred and twenty fishermen, from six villages, were interviewed. All eight species had been captured, by at least one of the interviewees, within the waterscape within the past year. However the mean and mode last capture dates varied between the species. Larger species, and those with higher Red List threat status, were caught less recently than smaller species of less conservation concern. The status of the Critically Endangered Pangasius sanitwongsei (mean last capture date 116.4 months) is particularly worrying suggesting severe population decline although cultural issues may have caused this species to have been under-reported. This highlights that studies making use of Local Ecological Knowledge need to understand the cultural background and context from which data is collected. Nevertheless we recommend our approach, of stratified random interviews to establish mean last capture dates, may be an effective methodology for monitoring freshwater fish species of conservation concern within artisanal fisheries. If fishing effort remains relatively constant, or if changes in fishing effort are accounted for, differences over time in mean last capture dates are likely to represent changes in the status of species. We plan to repeat our interview surveys within the waterscape as part of a long-term fish-monitoring program.

东南亚淡水生物多样性所面临的压力正持续加剧，但该区域诸多受威胁鱼类物种的现状及其保护需求仍不明朗。这一现状不仅制约了保护行动的落地实施，更阻碍了学界对基础设施建设与其他水文变化所产生影响的深入认知。本研究依托老挝人民民主共和国湄公河西沙孔（Siphandone）水域渔业群体的本地生态知识（Local Ecological Knowledge），对8种珍稀或具有文化重要性的鱼类物种的末次捕获平均日期与众数日期进行估算，旨在为保护监测工作提供基准基线。本次研究共访谈了来自6个村落的120名渔民。所有8个物种均在过去一年内被至少一名受访者在该水域内捕获过，但不同物种的末次捕获平均日期与众数日期存在显著差异。体型更大、IUCN红色名录（Red List）受威胁等级更高的物种，相较于受保护关注度较低的小型物种，其末次捕获的时间距今更远。其中极危物种苏氏巨鲶（Pangasius sanitwongsei，末次捕获平均日期为116.4个月）的现状尤其令人担忧，这表明其种群已出现严重衰退，不过文化因素可能导致该物种的捕获记录被低估。这一案例凸显出，依托本地生态知识开展的研究，需充分了解数据采集背后的文化背景与具体场景。尽管如此，我们认为本研究采用的通过分层随机访谈确定末次捕获平均日期的方法，可作为监测个体渔业中具有保护价值的淡水鱼类物种的有效手段。若捕捞强度保持相对稳定，或对捕捞强度的变化进行校正，则末次捕获平均日期随时间的差异，大概率能够反映物种现状的变化。作为长期鱼类监测计划的一部分，我们计划在该水域内重复开展访谈调查。