When the fishes are grown, the families sell them to processors from the city and start with new ones. The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand will defer purchases of electricity from several multi-billion dollar projects in Laos, citing the slowdown in Thailand's power demand. The World Bank analysis sees benefit in hydropower projects that would help increase the dry season flows because they store wet season flows in order to generate power during the dry season. How to share the potential additional dry season flow is of key interest to the Mekong's downstream countries. The Basin supports one of the most productive and biodiverse freshwater eco-systems in the world.
Annual floods support a rich riverside habitat and an extensive network of wetlands.
Water flooding into nutrient rich areas, combined with high levels of solar energy, help fuel a high powered ecosystem. Tonle Sap, the Great Lake of Cambodia, and the Delta's estuarine fisheries are the most productive areas. Fresh water capture fisheries constitute a major source of protein and an important element of food security for the Basin's mainly poor and rural population. There are at least 1,200 different fish species in the Basin, and the annual fish harvest in the Basin could be as high as one million tons, the World Bank estimates. This project has a seven-year span, and even so it should be seen as a step on a long road, the World Bank analysis concluded.