MISSION RAFETUS SWINHOEI SURVEY 2022
Our team is committed to ensuring the survival of the giant Rafetus swinhoei, and is organizing a field project, started in 2019, to collect data on its distribution and its ecology in the river systems of North Vietnam, through a series of structured interviews and niche modeling studies that should predict the most likely sites of occurrence for this elusive species in the country.
In 2022, we continued our structured interviews in two distinct areas of northern Vietnam: (1) Lao Cai and Yen Bai provinces along the Red River and Chay River, and (2) Bac Giang, Hai Duong, Thai Binh and Hung Yen provinces along Luc Nam, Thuong, Kinh Thay, Kinh Mon, Thai Binh, Luoc and Red River.
During these 2 missions, a total of 112 interviews were conducted with fishermen traveling 1876 km by motorbike and boat.
Many data have been collected on R. swinhoei, but also on many other species of chelonian, especially on an invasive species not yet recorded.
Publications
THE MISSION
Lieu : North Vietnam
Partenaires : Vietnam National University of Forestry (VNUF)
Funding : Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund
Species : Rafetus swinhoei
Mission : structured interviews and niche modeling studies of Rafetus swinhoei