Flooding is a key driver of the Tonle Sap dai fishery in Cambodia: Evidence of indiscriminate fishing effects in one of the world’s largest inland fisheries (Scientific Reports, (2018), 8, 1, (8947), 10.1038/s41598-018-27340-1)

ARISING FROM: P. B. Ngor et al.; Scientific Reports https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-27340-1 (2018).
As one of the richest sources of fisheries-related data in the lower Mekong basin, the Tonle Sap dai fishery has received considerable attention in the literature in recent years as concerns grow over the impacts of hydropower dams on fisheries, which are important for livelihoods and food security1,2,3.
Ngor et al.4 reported a decline since 2000 in the catch of larger species which tend to occupy higher trophic levels; compensatory increases in the catch of smaller species; and declines in the mean body weight (and length) of common species in the Tonle Sap dai fishery, as evidence of the effects of indiscriminate fishing or “fishing-down” of the multi-species fish assemblage in the lower Mekong basin. We provide evidence below that suggest that these apparent recent changes are more likely to reflect changing hydrological conditions than fishing-down effects, possibly caused by climate change and recently also by hydropower development.