Deforestation, overfishing threaten Cambodia's Tonle Sap lake
- From: Chim <ChimS1@xxxxxxx>
- Date: 23 Apr 2007 11:57:58 -0700
Deforestation, overfishing threaten Cambodia's Tonle Sap lake
By Channel NewsAsia's IndoChina Correspondent Anasuya Sanyal | Posted:
24 April 2007 0011 hrs
PHNOM PENH : Cambodia's great lake Tonle Sap provides nearly 70
percent of the fish consumed by Cambodians, but deforestation and
overfishing are just two threats to its long-term sustainability.
In Chong Kheanos floating village, poor families use every conceivable
kind of fishing method to eke out a meagre living, at the mercy of
this great lake.
During monsoon season, the lake expands almost five times its size,
flooding the land, forcing inhabitants to move, as the surrounding
15,000 square kilometres are completely submerged.
However the inundation, though it causes many hardships, is not all
bad.
David Thomson, Team Leader of Natural Resources Management Specialist
at the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, said:
"The annual flooding gives the fish an opportunity to breed. The
flooded forest is part of their environment. Young fish are protected
there. The fisherman say, "If there is no forest, there is no
fish."''
But the fish are disappearing, due to dry season encroachment of their
natural habitat.
And when they go, livelihoods in this, one of Southeast Asia's poorest
nations, will also inevitably suffer.
After 15 years living on Tonle Sap, one fisherman said things were
getting worse.
Nem Lay, Fisherman, said: "Out of the ten species of fish in these
waters, three have completely disappeared."
Life has become progressively harder for the fisherman who live there
on Tonle Sap.
They said illegal fishing methods were hampering their livelihoods.
Huge U-shaped nets engulf their smaller gill-type nets causing their
catches to go down and less fish for everyone.
Fisherman Soun Reth said illegal fishing had increased his costs and
made it difficult to get by.
"I used to use 70 metres of gill net to catch 10 kilogrammes of fish,
now I need to use 2,000 metres," he said.
But some community fisheries have found a way to stem the tide.
Bamboo poles sticking up from the water on Tonle Sap show a way to a
halt the over exploitation of fisheries.
David Thomson added: "They are deciding that we set aside part of our
area for a fish sanctuary. We will mark it, police it and protect it.
Now this is not an easy thing for a fishing community to do. All their
instinct is to harvest every fish, but they are grasping the
principles involved in long-term sustainability."
Supplemental activities to fishing like raising livestock and planting
mushrooms and vegetables are also ways to ease the pressure on the
lake's fishing grounds. - CNA/de
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