Mission Rafetus swinhoei

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. Our survey actions took place along big rivers such as Da river (Black River) in Hoa Binh, Son La, Lai Chau, Dien Bien provinces and Hong river (Red river) in Phu Tho, Yen Bai provinces and Ma river, Chu river in Thanh Hoa & Nghe An province, Vietnam and extension of Ma river in Houaphan province, Laos during 2019-2020.

The team traveled thousands of kilometers by various means, mostly by motorbike and boat to reach the local fishermen to ask them for Rafetus information. As a result of our efforts, we have found several priorities sites that potentially have Rafetus swinhoei presence. The results have been published in peer-reviewed journals.