The Phnom Penh Post
6 October 2015
Fishing communities along two of Cambodia’s principle rivers say their livelihoods are threatened by droughts that have reduced water levels and devastated fish numbers. “The Tonle Sap is 3 metres lower than last year,” Long Sochhet, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Fishing Communities, said yesterday. “Less water means less fish, so it is a dark year for us.”
According to Sochhet, the low water level meant the Tonle Sap could not flood the surrounding high ground and forests, which is vital if fish are to spawn.
“Usually in August and September, the water in the Tonle Sap rises and fills the lake, creeks and streams, flooding the forest where the fish breed and grow,” he said. “But in the past few years, the drought has lasted too long, and in the rainy season it rarely rains, making the water level too low for the river to flood.”
Many fishing communities, like the 400 families in Pursat province’s Raingtoel commune, where Sochhet lives, are entirely dependent on their catch, because they live in floating houses and have no land to cultivate, he added.