Cambodian fishermen turn to raising eels as Tonle Sap lake runs out of fish

KAMPONG PHLUK, Cambodia (AP) — Em Phat, 53, research his eel tanks with the depth of a person playing together with his livelihood.

For millennia, fishermen like him have relied on the bounty of the Tonle Sap in Cambodia, Southeast Asia’s largest lake and the epicenter of the world’s most efficient inland fishery. However local weather change, dams upstream on the Mekong River that sustains the lake, and deforestation within the area have modified every little thing.

There aren’t sufficient fish and residing by the lake has turn into harmful as storms intensify attributable to world warming. “Being a fisherman is tough,” he mentioned.

Phat hopes that elevating eels — a delicacy in Asian markets like China, Japan and South Korea — will present a approach ahead. He raises eels in numerous tanks: translucent eel eggs bob gently in Small glass aquariums. Voracious glassy larvae swim in plastic tanks. Bigger tubs have bicycle tires to offer locations for juvenile eels to cover.

Elevating eels could be worthwhile but it surely’s dangerous. Eels are notoriously troublesome and costly to lift. They want fixed pure, oxygenated water and particular meals and are inclined to illnesses. Phat misplaced many eels when an influence reduce stopped his oxygen pumps, killing the fish. However he’s optimistic in regards to the future. Residing on land, as a substitute of on the lake, additionally signifies that his spouse, Luy Nga, 52, can develop greens to eat and promote, so they’re making sufficient cash to get by.

“The eels have worth and may also be exported to China and different international locations sooner or later,” he mentioned.

That fishermen like Phat can not depend on the Tonle Sap, actually the “Nice Lake,” for his or her livelihood displays how a lot has modified. The lake used to greater than quadruple in dimension to an space bigger than the nation of Qatar in the course of the wet season, inundating native forests and creating the proper breeding floor for various fish to thrive.

The “flood pulse,” a pure strategy of periodic flooding and droughts within the river system helped make the Mekong Basin the world’s largest freshwater fishery, with practically 20% of all freshwater fish worldwide caught there, in line with the suppose tank Stimson Heart in Washington. Greater than 3 million individuals dwell and fish by the lake: a 3rd of all 17 million Cambodians depend on the fisheries sector and as much as 70% of Cambodia’s consumption of animal protein is from fish.

However dams upstream in China and Laos are chopping the Mekong’s stream, weakening that flood pulse. The lakes have been depleted by overfishing and far of the forest surrounding it has been logged or burned for farmland. Cambodian authorities are reluctant to estimate the extent that fish shares have declined.

This yr, the flood pulse was delayed by about two months, in line with the Mekong Dam Monitor, a analysis mission.

On this shattered ecosystem, elevating eels or different fish can present fishermen like Phat with a “buffer,” mentioned Zeb Hogan, a fish biologist on the College of Nevada who has labored within the area for many years. “Aquaculture, akin to eel farming, is a approach for individuals to take extra management over their revenue supply and livelihood,” he mentioned, including that it additionally permits them to lift fish that they know will fetch increased costs.

Phat is one among greater than 1000’s helped by a program run by the Britain-based nonprofit VSO to spice up incomes of individuals residing by Tonle Sap. VSO gives his child eels and has taught him the right way to increase them.

Eels are in excessive demand in Cambodia and elsewhere, mentioned Sum Vy, 38, a coordinator at VSO, so that they’re worthwhile. When fishermen know the right way to farm eels and hatch the infants, others can observe.

“Not solely can she or he earn the cash to help their household, they will share this data and ability with different individuals,” he mentioned.

Increasing aquaculture helps improve Cambodian exports. Its fish manufacturing elevated 24-fold within the twenty years main as much as 2021 and, in contrast to its neighbors, most of its fish catch is inland, in line with the Meals and Agricultural Group or FAO. A lot of it’s consumed domestically and exports have grown sluggishly. Earlier this yr, the federal government launched a scheme to enhance fish processing applied sciences and handle meals security considerations, hoping to start exporting extra fish to Europe subsequent yr.

Cambodia has signed commerce agreements with China and started transport frozen eels to Shanghai final yr.

“This export will contribute to financial progress, creating jobs for our farmers and fishermen,” Heng Mengty, the export supervisor of the Cambodian fish exporter informed China’s official Xinhua information company.

The promised progress can’t come quickly sufficient for Cambodians residing in fishing communities across the lake. Some households dwell in houses that float yr spherical, others on houses constructed on stilts as much as 8-meters-high (26 ft), to maintain them above floodwaters in the course of the wet season. Fishing is the one type of subsistence for a lot of, however indicators of decay are evident. Fishing nets catch solely very small fish, or worse, nothing in any respect. Households converse of large fish that at the moment are hardly ever seen. The catch is a fraction of what it was.

Even 10 years in the past, Som Lay, a 29-year-old fisherman mentioned, the lake was teeming with fish. However unlawful fishing has elevated and a few households have already given up fishing and are looking for land the place they will develop rice.

“Your complete village — my household and others — is going through these difficulties,” he mentioned.

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Related Press journalist Sopheng Cheang contributed to this report.

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