Why migratory fish are an important food supply and livelihood for millions of people around the world

For a huge number of fish and other aquatic animals, migration is a part of life. Atlantic salmon return to the same river they were born to lay eggs, whales swim from frigid Antarctic waters to the warmer climes to calf, and whale sharks never stop looking for food (covering thousands of kilometres in the process). There is a belief that fish migration only occurs between salt and fresh water (as in the case of our salmon) but fewer than 1% of species change habitat so drastically. Rather, the vast majority of migrating fish species feed in one place, then migrate to another to breed, all within the same system.

Tuna fishing in Indonesia. Photo: ACIAR

Linking students with international livestock research projects

By Jim Young, Russell Bush and Peter Windsor
The University of Sydney

Over the last 8 years, we have had over 50 undergraduate (BVSc and BAnVetBioSc) and graduate students (MVPHMgt and PhD) from the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney get involved in our Mekong Livestock Research Team’s international projects to work in Cambodia, Laos and/or Thailand. The University of Sydney Team has been commissioned to undertake ACIAR funded projects in both Cambodia and Laos, and have found students benefit from the experience while also providing benefits to project activities and outcomes. We have recently been advised that applications for New Colombo Plan Mobility scholarships were successful, and now prepare to assist a further 20 students visit Cambodia and Laos in 2016. We felt it might be appropriate to share some of these experiences and lessons learned, as this information is likely to be of use to project leaders and administrators who are looking to increase Australian student involvement.

Final year BVSc student Emma Roffey vaccinates a buggalo in northern Laos in 2014. Credit: University of Sydney/Jim Young

The rewards and challenges of collaboration in research and development projects

By Jim Young, Project Officer - Mekong Livestock Research (University of Sydney)

‘Collaboration’ is a word that rolls off the tongue and I think is generally perceived in a positive light. So I was somewhat surprised to find two definitions on a 'Google search'. The first, was expected; ‘the action of working with someone to produce or create something’. The second, was a little more surprising; ‘traitorous cooperation with an enemy’. Hmmm, interesting and I thought it might be useful to explore collaboration in further detail in the hope of stimulating some discussion and learn the experiences of others.

My view, and I am confident I can speak on behalf of our University of Sydney Mekong Livestock Research team, is that collaboration refers to the first definition: Joining forces to reach a common goal. Sounds simple, right?

Tiny wasps to safeguard forest plantations in the Mekong region

Tiny wasps were the subject of the first meeting for partners in the ACIAR project ‘Biological control of galling insect pests of eucalypts’ held in Vientiane, Lao PDR in July 2014. Delegates from Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao PDR outlined the eucalypt pest situation in the Mekong region, where large-scale reforestation projects are in train.

Rice futures in the Mekong region

Farmers in the Mekong region could remain poor if they grow rice alone. This is one of the messages that have come out of a recent meeting of policymakers and agricultural researchers in Cambodia.

Ideas on policy measures for improving rice-based farming systems in the Mekong region are outlined in a conference proceedings just released by the Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR). 



Cambodian smallholder farmers in rice fields. Photo: ACIAR.

The report, A policy dialogue on rice futures: rice-based farming systems research in the Mekong region, marks the conclusion of a AU$14.8 million ACIAR program on farm productivity and policy-focused research in the region. 

The meeting brought together 60 senior policymakers and agricultural researchers, primarily from Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Australia. The resulting report comprises 25 edited papers, including five synopses of panel and audience deliberations. 

Free-flowing fish for food security

Everything is going swimmingly for an ACIAR project in Laos, investigating ways to allow fish to move freely between the Mekong River and nearby floodplains.  The first ever fishway (a structure allowing fish to move through, around or over barriers) for Mekong species in Laos has just been built using know-how from ACIAR-funded research.

Fishway construction in Laos
(photograph by Jim Holmes)

Thinking outside the square to increase impact

Livestock diseases have a big impact on countries and people in the Mekong. They stop livestock movement, cause the loss of productive livestock and restrict trade. Some diseases can also be transmitted to people.
Every year thousands of livestock are traded between Mekong countries, potentially spreading serious diseases. As an indication, in 2008-09 up to 15,000 head of cattle per month were reported to have transited from Thailand through southern Laos into Vietnam.

Although the trade on this route has now dwindled to a trickle — mainly because of changes in exchange rates that made the trade less profitable — animals still move in large numbers to different destinations. The common factor in this trade is the trader and the trader networks that facilitate it.

The livestock trade in the Mekong is a potential risk in the spread of serious diseases such as foot and mouth disease or classical swine fever. What can be done to manage that risk?

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.