l rv { } t l l -I r!

V I f } l ]

i!:

Wrangling Megafish
The world's largest freshwater fish are in trouble. Biologist Zeb Hogan is identifying and protecting as many as he can-before they vanish forever.

il
;r
I

ever since I was little. I grew up ttt WATER l'vELovED Arizona,where you learn how precious it is' I get irtttt (rl the water a lot for my work' l'm not alwaysas caref the water I get into*dirty' as I should be about shallow.or deep-as long as there is a big fish in it As a conservationbiologist,I study these fish l call them megafish.They're more than six feet longl and 200-plus pounds,and they're typically very raro Some are at imminent risk of exiinction.Many are found in Asia. So far, I'vc stu d i e d 1 8 o f th e NORili world'stwo dozen AMERICA EURDPE eitn known megafish '" .:" sPecies.MY resear<;ll AFRtcA
SOUTH AMERICA

AUSTMLTA . Megafi ss tudy i i e s h

. 'T["Ji:,:"'*
Union for C ons erv ati on of N ature dec i de tc r

' c lothed int o I ndia ' sR a m g a n g a R i v e r to h e lp w ay a fter it was c a u g h t a n d t a g g e d .

include some of them on its threatened species lisl The Mekong giant catfish,the world's largest recorded freshwaterfish, was added to the IUCN's criticallyendangered list.Thai fishermen caught thtt 646-oound record holder in 2005. A century ago its populationwas at least 95 perceni higher than it is todav. Now fisherswould be lucky to catch (Continrn:r
Society Project Zeb Hogan's research is funded in part by your National Geographic Society membership

GRAPlll(:

. MARCH

2 0 rr

PHOT O: RQB T AYLOR N(iM M^l

EXPLORERs

JOURNAL

!,

n{

A c ro w d m a r v e l sa t a d e a d 3 7 5 - p o u n d M e ko n g g ia n t ca tfish netted by C ambodi an fi shermen i n 2005. "l t's a bi g deal whe n o n e i s c a u g h t , " H o g a n sa ys.F o r m e g a fish still a live ,h e compensated the fi shers and rel easedthei r catch.

a dozen in a year. Some years none are caught at all. lt's a warning that there's something wrong. The main problems facing these giants are overexploitation and habitat degradation.Overharvestingreduces fish populations,and habitat degradationis the nail in the cotfin. When I visited the YangtzeRiver in 2008, I saw for myself that the Chinese paddle{ishis on the verge of extinction-maybe it's even gone. None have been seen since 2003. Huge dams block access to their spawning grounds.But if there are freeflowing rivers,fish stay relativelyhealthy,so we need to start thinking of leavingsome freshwater habitats relativelyintact. I've swum with a lot Aboutthe of megafish,and it takes MegafishesProject a while t o f igur e out Z eb H o g a n , 3 7 , a n a s s isW t heir behav ior . it h t he tant research professor Chinese sturgeon,a at t h e U n i v e r s i t yo f Nev a d a ,R e n o , l e a d s criticallyendangered t his e f f o r t t o d o c u m e n t species that dates back and p r o t e c t t h e l a r g e st 200 million years and enda n g e r e d f r e s h w a t e r grows up to 13 feet long, f is h s p e c i e s .L e a r n m o r e you just know that's an at megaflshes.org.

ancient fish. lt acts like you're not even there. It doesn't care. Criticallyendangered sawfish, which may grow up to 20 feet long, are a little skittish.Giant freshwaterstingraysare friendly and curious.They come right up to you to see if you have food, almost like a dog would. One interestingthing I do is get in the water and help a fish that's been caught get used to the idea that its not in the net anymore.They need to be strong enough to swim on their own before we releasethem, or they'll go belly-up.My most memorable encounter was with a Mekong giant catfish netted by Thai fishermen.We tagged it but had to work fast. A giant catfish can survive maybe five minutes out of water. I got in the river and gripped it gently by the lip; it's the easiest way io hold on. The very fact that I could do that meant it was tired. But it was taking water t h r o u g h i t s g i l l sa n d m o v i n gi t s t a i l - g o o d s i g n s . A s I g u i d e d t h e f i s h , i t h e a d e d d e e p , p u l l i n gm e down with strong broad strokes of its tail. My ears popped. I stayed with the fish as far as I could. Then I let it go. lt made me believethat even for a s p e c i e s o n t h e b r i n k l i k e t h i s , t h e r e 'ss t i l l h o p e .
PtsOTO ZEB H OGAN