Mekong

• LOS ANGELES, Dec. 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Viking® ( www.viking.com ) today announced it will welcome an additional 10 Viking Longships ® to its river fleet in the coming years.
• To meet strong demand for European river voyages, eight of the new vessels will sail Viking's popular itineraries on the Rhine, Main and Danube rivers, while two additional Viking Longships will join the fleet on the Seine River.
• The total order is also inclusive of one Viking Longship for the Seine River that was announced in February 2023.
• With a current fleet of 80 river ships and more than 50 percent of the market share for North American travelers, Viking is by far the industry's leading river line.

• MENLO PARK, Calif., Nov. 9, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- NatureEye , the company that recently launched individual remote drone flights, now enables groups to charter a shared aerial adventure at iconic destinations around the world.
• Teams will enjoy a captivating one-hour experience where they alternate piloting a drone in one of NatureEye's locations above stunning scenery, fascinating wildlife, or historic sites.
• The team lead, or captain, who books the experience can invite up to eight team members to join in on the fun.
• Teams work together to search for wildlife or hidden treasures unique to the location, fostering camaraderie and teamwork.

• LONDON, Sept. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- UK residents have been researching their favourite multi-country holiday destinations, and Google data from the past 12 months shows that Vietnam paired with Cambodia is the most popular combination.
• This is followed by Sri Lanka and the Maldives, joint second with New Zealand and Australia.
• Why did Vietnam & Cambodia top the list?
• Their experts listen to your interests, share their advice, and then handcraft a personalised itinerary based on what you want and nothing more.

• While we know the biggest animal in the ocean is the blue whale and the largest marine fish is the whale shark, the identity of the world’s largest freshwater fish species long remained a mystery.
• Until 2022, that is, when fishers in Cambodia caught a giant freshwater stingray in the remote reaches of the Mekong River.
• The discovery marked a milestone in fish biologist Zeb Hogan’s more than two-decade quest to study and protect giant freshwater fish.

Colossal catfish and gargantuan gars

• Found on all continents except Antarctica, they are a wonderfully weird bunch of creatures, from colossal catfish and carp to gargantuan gars.
• But freshwater vertebrate populations have declined over the past five decades at twice the rate experienced by species within terrestrial or marine ecosystems.
• Megafish numbers in particular fell by a shocking 94%, according to one study of more than 200 large freshwater species.

What’s killing off the megafish

• The decline of giant freshwater fish is due to human impacts, such as overfishing, dam building and climate change.
• Since many of these species are slow to mature, they may never reach the age to reproduce.
• So far, however, conservation efforts to protect endangered giant freshwater fish species are mostly regional.

Alligator gars and sturgeon make a comeback

• But stricter fishing regulations introduced by Indigenous communities appear to have led to populations’ rebounding in many places.
• Today, alligator gar populations have bounced back in rivers like the Trinity in Texas.

Protecting the giants of the Mekong

• In an example of those efforts’ paying off, fishers in early 2023 caught a Mekong giant catfish weighing more than 200 pounds.
• While the record stingray is big, it might not be the largest of this species of ray in the Mekong.
• Research on the arapaima, for example, suggests it could grow as big, or even bigger, in places like Guyana.
• It’s about learning more about these amazing creatures to figure out how to better protect them.”