Browsing by Author "Degen, Peter"

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Inland Fishery Management in Cambodia: Is the Fishing Lot System the Basis for Improved Management or Should It Be Abolished?
(1998) Degen, Peter; Thuok, Nao
"The present freshwater capture fisheries management of Cambodia is thought to be 'one of the most developed and extended systems of fisheries regulation found in the world' (IMC 1992: A5-42). It comprises regulations on large scale fishing operations in well defined 'fishing lots', and middle scale operations, which need official licenses handed out by the DoF, and the so-called family fisheries with minor gears which can be operated in all water bodies at every time, unless being subject to legally restricted areas. Threats to and pressures on fish stocks are increasing in the same way as conflicts increase between the relevant actors (Ahmed et al.1998:). For social peace' sake a long-term fishery resources availability providing food security, income generation, and employment has to be addressed within the context of an improved fisheries management structure. "This paper originates within a project context of international fisheries development cooperation, in which a regional organization provides advice to the fisheries authorities of the Cambodian Government on training staff in fishing related research, setting up data bases and developing options for sustainable freshwater capture fisheries management. The basis of data actually available allows only for some initial insights into these organizational systems and management practices. After more than a quarter of a century of civil war, in which most of historical documentation disappeared, and no research had been done, Government staff has to be trained in order to conduct research on relevant issues for fisheries management, meaning that every kind of data collection is virtually a pioneering work. "The process of gradually deepening insights also allows for gradually improving the operationalization of research questions that provide a clearer picture of the essentials for fisheries management. This paper tries to contribute to this process of refining research questions, clearing concepts and definitions needed for designing feasible options for fisheries management, that fit the very specific environmental, cultural and institutional-political conditions of Cambodia."
Taken for Granted: Conflicts over Cambodia's Freshwater Fish Resources
(2000) Degen, Peter; Van Acker, Frank; van Zalinge, Nicolaas; Thuok, Nao; Vuthy, Ly
"Cambodia ranks fourth among the world's top freshwater capture fisheries with an annual production of 300,000 400,000 t. Fish is an important part of food security in the country, especially for the rural poor. A household survey (1995/6) representative of 4.2 million people in central Cambodia found an average fish consumption rate of 67 kg/capita/year. "For about a decade, Cambodia has also been undergoing a period of rapid institutional transition from a communist to a capitalist economic regime. The backdrop to this transition is the government's professed ambition to create an equitable rural development. Nevertheless, after a period of 15 years during which access to fishing grounds was governed by collective schemes, an auction system determining exclusive use rights for two years was reintroduced to govern access to the most productive parts of the Cambodian fisheries domain, the fishing lots. Many of these lots consist of large areas of floodplain containing flood forest habitats essential for feeding and breeding of many species. Each lot has a 'burden book' which contains the specific management program indicating timing and spatial arrangements of the fishing operation. "Outside the fishing lots, the so-called open-access areas, are under increasing pressure from people in search of a livelihood. Almost 95% of the people in Cambodia survive from agriculture and fisheries, and population growth outpaces the growth of job-creation outside of the agricultural sector. The elementary needs of a growing rural population in conjunction with the absence of well-functioning regulatory institutions have resulted in falling fish catch rates per unit of effort and increased conflicts over and with fishing rights. "Rural households depending on the fishery for livelihood and subsistence have been losing out at the expense of politically and economically more powerful users (often using weapons to assert their interests). In the long term, a badly managed fishery engaging an increasing number of users that seeks short-term benefits, will negatively affect the recruitment capacity of fish stocks and enhance income and wealth disparities in Cambodia's rural areas. "The strategy being developed to provide solutions to these conflicts and stop the decline in fish catches, aims at environmental sensitization of resource users and broadening participation in the management of fishery habitats. The 'community' in its traditional sense as a spatially small, socially homogeneous, and normative unit seems to be too limited as an institutional framework for addressing fisheries co-management. The 'community of users (co- managers)' comprising strategic actors such as lot concessionaires, national and local authorities, military and militia groups, and small scale fishers, is interacting in a dynamic way frequently bypassing the limitations of formal institutions, and creating de facto new institutions to fulfil their interests. "With these considerations in mind, a process of enhancing transparency and communication oriented towards the needs of protecting critical fishing habitats is proposed to lead to a stronger and more focussed institutional framework allowing for broader participation of local users in protecting habitats and benefiting from its yields."