STUNG TRENG, CAMBODIA – Declining fish stocks in Cambodia have disrupted the lives of women in the fisheries sector and caused them financial difficulties. But many have had enough and have decided to stand up and fight for fish protection, despite the uncertainties.
Sorn Samon, a fish wholesaler in the Stung Treng market, goes to the banks of the Mekong River every day to buy freshly caught fish.
She then resells the fish to earn an income. But less fish are being caught in the past year. Since early this year, she has struggled to get only five kilograms of fish a day, four times less than last year.
“The fish are not abundant like before. In past years, I could buy at least 20 to 30 kilograms of fish a day,” she said from the river’s bank, while hoping more boats would arrive with fish.
However, no more boats arrived and she had no fish to resell that day, and that means zero income.
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) reported that 30% of Cambodia’s population was estimated to be employed in the fishery sector.
Nearly seven million people depend on fishing and aquaculture in Cambodia, and in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, declining fish stocks will critically interrupt the fishery supply chain and food security.
Women play a big part in the fishery sector. They are involved in supply chains, from harvesting to the post-harvesting sector – which includes collecting fish, wholesaling and processing them.
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization reported in 2021 that Cambodian women owned 74% of the enterprises in post-harvest fisheries, according to a survey of 431 businesses in Siem Reap, Kampong Thom and Kampot provinces.
Women-owned processing businesses accounted for 54% of fermented fish products, 67% of marinated fish and fish ball products, 75% of fish sauce production and 50% of dried shrimp production.
‘No fish’ becomes common
The decline in fish catches has impacted Cambodian women at many levels. In the fishery supply chains, fewer fish means fewer incomes for women selling fish in the markets and those processing fish – like wholesaler Samon.
At the family level, women are responsible for managing household budgets and making sure debts are paid. Losing their incomes from the fish business means they cannot manage these tasks effectively.
Single mother Mai Chorn, 42, has depended on fish stocks in Stung Treng’s Koh Sneng village – an island where the almost all the local community depends on fishing.
When the sun rises, she leaves her home and gets on a boat with her 17-year-old son to find fish.
She often pulls in her net to find no fish in it. Her shrinking daily income has become a serious problem. In 2022, she earned roughly US$250, and the situation has shown no signs of improvement in 2023.
In two months, she can make about $50 from selling fish, but must do additional laboring jobs and grow rice to get some extra income to feed her son and pay her debts.
Her shrinking income has forced her to miss some payments, which results in an interest rate hike on her debt.
Koh Sneng commune chief Vann Somphorn said there are 270 families in Koh Sneng village that fully rely on fishing, and the declining fish catches have everyone concerned. Some have quit fishing and looked for alternative jobs, including working on cashew or potato harvests.
The Cambodia Fisheries Administration reported that the total national fish catch in 2020 was 413,200 tons, down 13.7% compared with 2019, and it fell by another 7.3% in 2021, to 383,050 tons.
The situation seemed to have slightly improved in 2022, with 406,400 tons of fish being caught.
The MRC’s report suggested that climate change, the construction of hydropower dams, the expansion of irrigated agriculture, flood control and protection infrastructure, and other water resources development projects, have put pressure on the Mekong fisheries.
Some communities link declining fish stocks to the irregular water flow caused by upstream hydropower dams.
“An irregular water flow makes the lifecycle of fish change,” said Chea Seila, a project manager at Wonders of the Mekong, an initiative that aims to improve the health of the Mekong River.
The usage of natural resources along the Mekong has also changed, she added, and this affects the variety of fish in the Mekong River, which is home to more than 1,100 species. About 400 of those are found in Cambodia.
Guarding the river
Ma Chantha, 30, a teacher and the wife of a fisherman, is one of many women affected by declining fish catches in the Mekong – motivating her to join local efforts to tackle illegal fishing and being outspoken in village meetings.
Her community in Koh Sneng village has experienced a severe decline in fish catches in the past five years.
“My husband leaves three or four fishing nets and can catch only two or three fish. It is not even enough for our own family,” she said.
As a result, her family must now buy fish from the market to eat, and prices have increased due to the scarcity of fish. Some villagers, including women, have given up the fishing business and gone to work abroad, especially in Thailand.
“The river is our cooking pot, our stomach and the source of our daily food … if we lose [the fish catches], we will lose everything,” said Chantha. “We see that the fish numbers are declining, and some people are still trying to destroy [our food bank].”
She was referring to illegal fishing, especially electrofishing and using poison, which has plagued the Mekong River and is one of the main causes of the rapid decline in fish stocks.
Giant barb and the Mekong giant catfish have been wiped out from her community for nearly 15 years due to unsustainable fishing methods.
In Tonsong village of Siem Bouk commune, south of Chantha’s village, 63-year-old Kha Sros’s ethnic Kuy community has been fighting the same war.
For more than a decade Sros, who catches and processes fish, has witnessed the decline of the fishery sector in her community. She has not seen Pa Sa-ee (Mekongina erythrospila) – a fish species that is vital for local consumption and endemic in the middle and lower Mekong River.
This has driven her to spend years looking out for illegal fishermen and reporting them, while joining the community’s patrol team on the river.
“I saw them [illegal fishermen] many times. But I have never grabbed them. They are fast and good at escaping us,” said Sros, adding that her patrol team lacks fast boats to chase the illegal fishermen.
“Patrolling, though during the day, can be risky as illegal fishermen often carry guns to protect themselves. Women are not allowed to patrol at night due to safety concerns.”
Cambodia prosecuted 2,952 fishing crime cases in 2021, a slight increase from the 2,923 cases in 2020, according to the Cambodia Fisheries Administration.
Due to her age, she is planning to train more Kuy people in her community to do her work and to continue advocating for the protection of natural resources. Her efforts are aimed at the young generation, who may not be able to benefit from the fish in the Mekong River if the numbers keep declining.
“Every day, I think that I will do this work until I am not physically capable of doing it anymore. If I’m still able to do it, I will keep doing it,” she vowed.
Chantha wants to see guards patrol the river 24 hours a day and urged authorities to increase the budget for this protection work.
“There is action, but it’s just that it has not yet been effectively implemented,” she said.
This story was fist published in the Cambodianess and was supported by the Internews Earth Journalism Network under Reporting on Mekong Water Governance from a Gender and Social Inclusive Lens.
