From the Murray to the Mekong

New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) researcher, Jarrod McPherson, is relocating from the Narrandera fisheries centre to Laos until May 2012 to take up a volunteer position to assist with the development of a fish passage program for the Lower Mekong Basin.

With more than five years experience in fish migration in the Murray-Darling Basin, Jarrod will apply this knowledge to fish of the Mekong River, in his role as an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development

He will be working on a $2.2 million five-year ACIAR project that is helping develop fish passage technology for the lower Mekong River to help prevent future fish declines which may occur as the river becomes increasingly developed.

 Jarrod McPherson during one of his visits to Lao PDR.

The Mekong River has more than 1200 species,
supports two per cent of the world's total fish catch,
and provides 30% of Lao people's protein needs.

There are some striking similarities between the Mekong and Murray-Darling Basins. Both systems drain a similar geographical area and rely on regular flooding to maintain fisheries productivity.


The ACIAR project is co-funded with NSW DPI (Fisheries Research) and Fisheries Queensland.

Source: NSW DPI

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