Fun fact: Asian arowana once sold for more than RM500,000! But did you also know that they were once so common, that locals were hauling them up by the dozens to eat? But the fish have been endangered for the past 50 years, and are rarely seen in our rivers and lakes now. Local environmental journalism portal Macaranga wrote a two-part series on the past decline of wild arowanas and current efforts to conserve them, and we find out more from journalists and co-authors of the piece, Law Yao Hua (Editor, Macaranga) and Tracy Keeling (Earth Journalism Networks' CITES Legal Trade Journalism Fellow) and Dr Haslawati Baharuddin, a research scientist from the Fisheries Research Institute, Department of Fisheries Malaysia.

Image credit: Eric Chiang/Macaranga

Produced by: Juliet Jacobs

Presented by: Juliet Jacobs

This and more than 60,000 other podcasts in your hand. Download the all new BFM mobile app.

Categories:  environment,  Law/Activism

Tags:  arowana,  golden arowana,  Asian arowana,  Bukit Merah Lake,  arowana conservation,  arowana breeding,  Department of Fisheries Malaysia,  the bigger picture,  earth matters,  conservation,  macaranga,  overfishing,  wildlife pet trade,  cites,