Due to myriad problems ranging from flooding caused by deforestation to overfishing threatening the fish-rich Tonle Sap lake, more reserves where fishing is prohibited are needed, according to government officials and fishing experts.
Touch Seang Tana, undersecretary of state for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forest and Fisheries, along with members of the economic, social, and cultural observation unit of the Council of Ministers, have suggested the government allocate one reserve bordering the Tonle Sap in Battambang province and two in Kompong Thom province. These reserves are deep enough for fish to survive during the dry season, they said.
Flooded forest lands are key areas where fish are able to spawn before moving on to larger bodies of water such as the Tonle Sap. Loss of flooded forests are most severe in Prey Veng, Kandal and Takeo provinces as a result of clear cutting for new farms and firewood.
Destruction of these aquatic forests began in the 1970s and has left only 5 percent of the forests standing, Touch Seang Tana said.
“We should set up clear-cut reserves where no one can be allowed to fish in order that we can conserve our fish population,” he said.
Nao Thuok, director of the Fisheries Department at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, disagrees. He said he believes the water is not deep enough in the proposed reserves to support the fish, and that the fish in those waters are susceptible to being eaten by birds. He said he believes the seven existing preserves are adequate to support aquatic wildlife.
Fisheries officials and experts agree that overfishing, deforestation and forest erosion, drought and population growth have diminished the stock of fish in the Tonle Sap, costing the country millions of dollars in lost revenues.
According to Nao Thuok, one-third of Cambodia’s 1 million hectares of forest land that once surrounded the Tonle Sap and other bodies of water is now gone. Neou Bonheur, deputy director of the Nature Conservation Department in the Ministry of Environment, said human population growth has polluted the lake and caused a buildup of sediment.
Neou Bonheur announced recently that a five-year conservation and management project for the Tonle Sap will commence next year. The Asian Development Bank is expected to approve an $11 million loan dedicated to preserving the Tonle Sap later this year. Other funders for the $21 million project will include the UN Development Program, the UN Environmental Facility and the Cambodian government, said Neou Bonheur.
The project will focus on listing inventories of natural resources, creating awareness campaigns for people living near the lake, and managerial and technical training for government authorities, Neou Bonheur said.
