Another favourite fishing technique is electrocution. All along the river, people are using car batteries hooked up to transformers and long metal prods. The prods are dipped into the water and the current kills everything in range. In Phnom Penh you can buy special metal baskets which zap the fish and catch them in one scoop. The trouble is, both grenades and electric shocks are so indiscriminate.
Nothing is spared, including the dolphin.
Up to seventy metres long, the nets are stretched across the tributaries that flow into the Mekong. Private operators apply for permits from the local authorities, who regularly contravene the national regulations to allow them access. Others bid legally for permits through the National Fisheries Department. The villagers don't know who's operating legally and who isn't, and they're shut out of their own fishing areas by private security guards. They were introduced after the last election in 1993, but the trouble is they haven't been implemented.