Fishers, dams and the potential survival of the world’s rarest turtle, Rafetus swinhoei, in two river basins in northern Vietnam

1. Next to cetaceans and megafishes, freshwater turtles are the most endangered iconic freshwater species. 2. A detailed questionnaire survey conducted with more than 100 individuals from northern Vietnam fishing communities was used to investigate the current status of South-East Asian turtles and provides new hope concerning the survival of Rafetus swinhoei, for which recent official records in the wild in Vietnam are limited to a single individual. 3. The survey included the entire Vietnamese portion of the Da River in Hoa Binh and Son La Provinces, as well as the Chu and Ma river system in Thanh Hoa Province, as they are the last sites where the world’s rarest and largest Asian softshell turtle has been seen. The questionnaire, conducted in Vietnamese, focussed on demographic details, fishing intensity and gear, the status of fishing grounds and the frequency of interaction with turtles. 4. The great majority of fishers could recognise different turtle species from photographs and describe their preferential breeding habitat; not all knew that they are protected. Few confirmed that more than once a year they still meet with freshwater turtles during their fishing activities. 5. This survey provides detailed information on sites where freshwater turtles are still seen in northern Vietnam and broadens our hope that wild individuals of the extremely rare, Rafetus swinhoei, may still be relictual in the remaining riparian wetlands of these biodiverse, dammed and controlled North-Vietnamese river basins.