Temporal Dynamics of Fish Assemblages as a Reflection of Policy Shift from Fishing Concession to Co-Management in One of the World’s Largest Tropical Flood Pulse Fisheries

Chan, Bunyeth; Ngor, Peng Bun; Hogan, Zeb; So, Nam; Brosse, Sébastien; Lek, Sovan

doi:10.3390/w12112974

Cited by 15 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Agricultural intensification is driving use of chemical inputs, irrigation (Mukherji et al, 2009), and aquatic habitat conversion (Mahood et al, 2020). Destructive fishing practices are widespread (Chan et al, 2020).…”

Section: Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Potential for Sustainable Aquaculture Development in Cambodia

Joffre¹,

Freed²,

Bernhardt

et al. 2021

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Inland capture fisheries are central to livelihoods and food security in Cambodia, but are under threat from growing anthropogenic pressures. Policy discourse in Cambodia increasingly frames aquaculture as a viable alternative to capture fisheries, and seeks to promote its development. This paper presents results from the first comprehensive survey of Cambodia's aquaculture value chain. The study combines qualitative (46 Key Informant Interviews) and quantitative surveys (1,204 farmers and 191 other aquaculture value chain actors) to investigate potential for aquaculture in Cambodia to grow, support livelihoods, and contribute to food security. We found the following: (i) The fish farm sector in Cambodia is comprised mainly of small family farms raising carnivorous fish species or pangasius, using direct inputs of “trash fish” harvested from the wild; (ii) Most fish seed and pelleted feed are imported, and domestic producers of these inputs struggle to compete; (iii) Fish farmed in Cambodia is mostly sold live. Farm fish are more expensive than the main species harvested from inland capture fisheries, and struggle to compete with imported farmed fish; (iv) Capture fisheries employ many times more people than aquaculture; (v) Space for aquaculture is limited because few locations have both perennial access to water and protection from flooding. These findings raise questions about the potential of Cambodia's aquaculture sector, as currently organized, to contribute significantly to employment, food and nutrition security, and rural economic development. We propose actions to improve the sector's sustainability and contribute to desirable development outcomes.

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Section: Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Potential for Sustainable Aquaculture Development in Cambodia

Joffre¹,

Freed²,

Bernhardt

et al. 2021

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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show abstract

“…For example, hydrologic alteration threatens flooded forest habitats surrounding Tonle Sap Lake, including RAMSAR wetlands and a UNESCO biosphere reserve [10,77]. The productivity of the world's largest inland fishery at Tonle Sap Lake is in decline [78,79], jeopardizing food security for 65 million people [4]. Water quality has been impaired in the Mekong River downstream of the 3S Basin, including Tonle Sap Lake and the Mekong Delta [80,81], and sediment trapping in reservoirs has endangered agricultural production and increased the frequency of seawater intrusion in Vietnam's Mekong Delta (MRC 2005).…”

Section: History and Future Of Tradeoff Analyses In Dam Planning And Operationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Meta-Analysis of Environmental Tradeoffs of Hydropower Dams in the Sekong, Sesan, and Srepok (3S) Rivers of the Lower Mekong Basin

Null

Farshid

Goodrum

et al. 2020

Water

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In Mekong riparian countries, hydropower development provides energy, but also threatens biodiversity, ecosystems, food security, and an unparalleled freshwater fishery. The Sekong, Sesan, and Srepok Rivers (3S Basin) are major tributaries to the Lower Mekong River (LMB), making up 10% of the Mekong watershed but supporting nearly 40% of the fish species of the LMB. Forty-five dams have been built, are under construction, or are planned in the 3S Basin. We completed a meta-analysis of aquatic and riparian environmental losses from current, planned, and proposed hydropower dams in the 3S and LMB using 46 papers and reports from the past three decades. Proposed mainstem Stung Treng and Sambor dams were not included in our analysis because Cambodia recently announced a moratorium on mainstem Mekong River dams. More than 50% of studies evaluated hydrologic change from dam development, 33% quantified sediment alteration, and 30% estimated fish production changes. Freshwater fish diversity, non-fish species, primary production, trophic ecology, and nutrient loading objectives were less commonly studied. We visualized human and environmental tradeoffs of 3S dams from the reviewed papers. Overall, Lower Sesan 2, the proposed Sekong Dam, and planned Lower Srepok 3A and Lower Sesan 3 have considerable environmental impacts. Tradeoff analyses should include environmental objectives by representing organisms, habitats, and ecosystems to quantify environmental costs of dam development and maintain the biodiversity and extraordinary freshwater fishery of the LMB.

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“…We focused on migratory catfishes because this group is an important component of the fish catch in the Lower Mekong Basin and thus supports fisheries and livelihoods, making these fishes highly significant to the people of the region. We further targeted catfishes that attain large body sizes because these are particularly vulnerable to overfishing and other threats [12,19,28,29]. Our study species attained maximum lengths of 120-240 cm, and included: Bagarius yarrelli, Hemibagrus wyckioides, Pangasius bocourti, Wallago attu, and Pangasius conchophilus.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acoustic Telemetry Monitors Movements of Wild Adult Catfishes in the Mekong River, Thailand and Laos

Naughton

Hogan

Campbell

et al. 2021

Water

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Research on fish movement and habitat use in large tropical rivers is urgently needed to protect fisheries that are a primary source of protein for millions of people. In this pilot study, acoustic telemetry was used to monitor movements of wild catfishes in a 94.6 rkm reach of Mekong River, where it functions as the border between Thailand and Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR). Twenty fish were tagged and released in May 2006 and monitored through May 2007 with 17 fixed-site acoustic receivers. Ten receivers had detection probabilities ranging from 0.67 to 1.00, and five receivers had detection probabilities of 0.50 or less. Detection probability was not correlated with river width. Eighteen (90%) of the tagged fish were detected by at least one receiver. Monitoring durations of individual fish ranged from 0.1 to 354.4 days. The longest total movement was 88.3 rkm, while the longest upstream movement was 52.1 rkm. Movement rates ranged from 0.1 to 156.7 rkm/d. This work provided preliminary data on movement patterns of wild Mekong catfishes. The methods and lessons learned from this study can be used for future positional telemetry research to address management-relevant uncertainties about migration corridors, habitat use, efficacy of fish reserves, and river development planning.

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Temporal Dynamics of Fish Assemblages as a Reflection of Policy Shift from Fishing Concession to Co-Management in One of the World’s Largest Tropical Flood Pulse Fisheries

Cited by 15 publications

References 45 publications

Assessing the Potential for Sustainable Aquaculture Development in Cambodia

Assessing the Potential for Sustainable Aquaculture Development in Cambodia

A Meta-Analysis of Environmental Tradeoffs of Hydropower Dams in the Sekong, Sesan, and Srepok (3S) Rivers of the Lower Mekong Basin

Acoustic Telemetry Monitors Movements of Wild Adult Catfishes in the Mekong River, Thailand and Laos

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