Among the fish populations that could be harmed by the Xayaburi dam in Laos is the critically endangered Mekong giant catfish, considered by the Guinness Book of World Records to be the world’s largest freshwater fish. The fish, which grows to 650 pounds and about 10 feet long, is only found in the Mekong River. It is migratory, moving between downstream habitats in Cambodia upstream to northern Thailand and Laos each year to spawn. Some experts fear the Xayaburi dam could block the migration and drive the giant catfish to extinction. (Photo by Courtesy of Zeb Hogan/University of Nevada, Reno)

Ethnic San Chi women dressed in traditional costumes play a friendly football match as part of the Soong Co festival celebrations in northern Vietnam's Quang Ninh province on April 24, 2021. (Photo by Nhac Nguyen/AFP Photo)

Miss Universe contestant Carmina Olimpia Cotfas of Romania poses dressed in the national costume for Miss Universe Romania 2021, created by Israeli designer Aviad Arik Herman, in the hallway of the Romanian Atheneum, the reputed 19th century built concert hall, in Bucharest, Romania, Monday, November 22, 2021. The 70th Miss Universe pageant is being staged in the southern Israeli resort city of Eilat on December 12. (Photo by Andreea Alexandru/AP Photo)

Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen runs onto the field before an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, November 21, 2021, in Inglewood, Calif. (Photo by Ashley Landis/AP Photo)

Off from school due to the Thanksgiving holiday this week, Felix Naranch, 7, right, and his brother Asa Naranch, 3, play with their father Stu Naranch in a pile of fall leaves that they raked together in a park, Tuesday, November 23, 2021, in Washington. (Photo by Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo)

View of the work “Divided” (2016), within the visual artist's exhibition “Urs Fischer: Lovers”, exhibited at the Museo Jumex in Mexico City, Mexico 31 March 2022. The sensations and emotions of love and life, as well as the energy and forces that create and wear it down, inhabit “Urs Fischer: Lovers”, the first solo exhibition in Mexico by Swiss plastics artist Urs Fischer. (Photo by Alex Cruz/EPA/EFE)

People look at a dead pilot whale on a beach in Panadura on November 3, 2020. Rescuers and volunteers were racing since November 2 to save about 100 pilot whales stranded on Sri Lanka's western coast in the island nation's biggest-ever mass beaching. (Photo by Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP Photo)

Members of the public take to the water at Barassie Beach in Troon, on the west coast of Scotland on Boxing Day, December 26, 2020 as Storm Bella brings rain and high winds to the UK. (Photo by Andy Buchanan/AFP Photo)