Still around for now (Image: Robert Nickelsberg/Time Life Pictures/Getty)

LAST week bought a little extra time for the world’s largest freshwater fish, the Mekong giant catfish, as a decision to build a giant dam on the Mekong river was deferred.

Officials from the four countries on the lower Mekong failed to agree on whether to approve the Xayaburi dam. Laos wants to build the dam on its stretch of the river and sell the electricity it generates, but Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam all have reservations. The matter could be settled at a meeting of a council of ministers in October, where Laos may find itself outvoted. Vietnam wants the dam delayed at least 10 years to give time for more research into its impacts.

WWF, one of 260 organisations opposing the dam, says that as well as the catfish, 230 fish species and the rivers they migrate along are at risk. It has calculated that smaller dams built on tributaries could generate an equal amount of electricity without the same impact on the environment.