Vulnerability of Fisheries in Cambodia by Mak Sithirith Page 1 http://www.ngoforum.org.kh/Environment/Docs/vulnerability_of_fisheries.htm 09/21/2004 09:37:31 AM [ BACK ] [ HOME PAGE ] Vulnerability of Fisheries in Cambodia by Mak Sithirith, The NGO Forum on Cambodia For the " Accounting for Development: Austrlia and the Asian Development Bank in the Mekong Region " Conference on in Sydney, Australia 22-24 June 2000 1. I ntroduction Cambodia is a country rich in natural resources. Cambodian people live close to the natural environment and rely on these resources for subsistence livelihoods. About 84% of Cambodian live in rural areas [ 1 ] and most of them are involved in agriculture, fishing and forestry which together account for 88% of total employment in Cambodia [ 2 ] . The rural people are the engine of agricultural production which accounting for 40 per cent GDP . Yet the living standards of rural people are very low. Approximately 43% of rural population live below the poverty line [ 3 ] . The importance of rice and fish for livelihoods of rural communities has remained unchanged in Cambodia. Fish is by far the most important source of protein, accounting for 80% of their annual protein intake of Cambodia’s population of 10.5 million [ 4 ] . Second only to rice, fisheries in Cambodia are the main staple of people's daily food security as well as strengthening the national economy [ 5 ] . 2. Factors Contributing to Fisheries Destruction Despite the importance of fisheries to the vast majority of Cambodians, these resources are under threat. Several factors have been seen to be contributing to fisheries destruction. These factors include: The natural resource management policy of Cambodian government and upstream development in the Mekong River System a) The natural resource management policy of Cambodian government: In Cambodia, the government has a policy of centralization and a commercialization of fisheries resources [ 6 ] .. At the central level, the Fisheries Department awards concession right to fishery resources including Cambodia's richest fishery resource- the Great Lake Tonle Sap. The Fisheries Department focus on law enforcement, surveillance and control of fishing activities, including issuing fishing licences and collecting fees and taxes of people engaged in fishing activities even thought parts of the current fisheries law are no longer appropriate for the current context [ 7 ] . Before 1995, the Fisheries Department was not able to determine with any accuracy the quantity, the quality of Cambodia's fish catch because of a lack of knowledge and the absence of a proper data collection system. The Department radically underestimated the catch by up 5 or 6 times [ 8 ] . The current fisheries law was promulgated in 1987 under the socialist government. Since then, privatization of fisheries resources has developed, and enforcement and implementation of the