Integrating Golden Mahaseer Life History into Bhutanese Natural Resource Conservation Planning

The Golden Mahaseer (Tor putitora) faces a number of challenges to its survival as a species across the entire Himalayan range, including construction of hydropower projects, illegal fishing, and climate change. Conservation efforts in Bhutan are hampered by the lack of basic life history information on this iconic species. The Fisheries Conservation Foundation and the World Wildlife Fund have formed an International Conservation Partnership to assist the ongoing efforts of the Royal Government of Bhutan to provide that information and in the process, help them to conserve their aquatic natural resources. Our research project is using remote radio-telemetry to assess Golden Mahaseer movements and habitat use in the MangdeChhu and DangmeChhu connected river systems. The overall research goal is to determine how the life history of the Golden Mahaseer (i.e., its ontogenetic and seasonal movements, growth, and age-at-maturation) affects the relative risks it faces in Bhutan. Even after only one full year, we have collected data that help us to achieve that goal.