Story | 09 Jun, 2016

Building confidence and capacity in community fisheries

On May 25, 2016, IUCN and FACT organised a workshop in Siem Reap to discuss the results and implications of 3.5 years of participatory monitoring that includes the collection of quantitative data on fish catch, debt, health, education, and other indicators, and quarterly focus group discussions, which are used to capture information on most significant changes as perceived by local fishers.  

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Photo: Mr. Jake Brunner (second from the right) – Head of IUCN Indo-Burma and other chairpersons at the meeting

This monitoring and evaluating (M&E) system was designed by Dr. Sarah Milne of Australian National University for an EU-funded project to strengthen community fisheries (CFi) in three sites in the Tonle Sap: Phlouv Touk, Kampong Phluk, and Boeung Chhmar. In each site, IUCN and FACT have worked with CFi committees to demarcate and protect fish conservation areas (FCAs) and community protected areas (CPA) to enhance fish stocks. The four-year project ends in December 2016.

The M&E results indicate that the project has had an a significant positive impact on livelihoods in terms of increased fish catch, increased income, and reduced debt. While the project was not designed to measure fish stocks, there is evidence that these have increased. In February, a FiA/JICA team set fish traps 30 m and 400 m outside the FCA in Kampong Phluk. Within 24 hours, these traps caught 20 kg and 6 kg respectively, confirming the effect of well-protected FCAs in enhancing fish stocks. 

These results are welcome if unsurprising. Around the world, marine projected areas (MPAs) have shown how effective they are in restoring fish populations. They don't need to be huge. Small but strategically-located MPAs work well too: Apo Island MPA in the Philippines is only about 50 hectares and you can easily swim around the strictly projected zone of Cu Lao Cham MPA in Viet Nam. Similarly, the three FCAs the project has helped establish in the Tonle Sap are 24, 65, and 200 hectares. 

But how much of the fish stock recovery is due to the project or to external factors? There's a close correlation between fish catch in the Tonle Sap and the area of flooded forest, indicating that floods that are linked to the flow of the Mekong and have nothing to do with the project drive fish production. While small, the three FCAs include deep pools that remain sufficiently deep and cool to protect the "mother fish" before they disperse and breed once the water level in the lake starts to rise in September. The conservation value of these FCAs is therefore independent of broader hydrological conditions and protect key fish populations even when water levels are at record lows, as they are this year.

Fish Conservation Area       Photo: Poles are added around FCA

The key success factor is the ability of the local fishers to protect the FCAs during the peak illegal fishing period in April-June and here the project has had unambiguous success. 

There is huge pressure on all three FCA requiring 24/7 patrolling, especially at night when it is hard to detect fishers entering the FCA. The disadvantage of having an FCA that is accessible to all households (an important equity consideration) and is easy to patrol (an important effectiveness consideration) is that it is also accessible to illegal fishers. 

In Phlouv Touk, there hasn't been a single case of fishing inside the FCA so far this year. In March, 100 m from the FCA, a 60 m-long net that blocked most of the canal was removed. By law, nets can only block off one-third of a waterway. The 300 poles that were used to fix the net were moved to the FCA to serve as fish attraction devices. This was the first time that the CFi committee has been able to secure law-enforcement assistance from the local authorities without IUCN or FACT's intervention, a measure of increased capacity and confidence. In the words of the commune head, "In the past we were afraid, but not now".

In Kampong Phluk, there have been two cases of fishers from Kampong Khlang fishing inside the FCA this year.  These fishers were stopped, signed confessions, and thumb-printed. The fact that there have only been two such cases indicates that the purpose of the FCA is widely understood and respected, again a function of greater CFi committee capacity.

In Boeung Chhmar, the only case of illegal fishing was in May when someone from Svay Rieng Province used electro-fishing gear inside the CPA and his gear was confiscated.

Dealing with such cases of illegal fishing is crucial to the sustainability of the project. A WorldFish scientist at the workshop observed that if bad people are allowed to do bad things and get away with it, trust and cohesion within the fishing community breaks down. He noted that while the fishing lot reforms of 2012 increased local access to fishing grounds, there was no effort to improve fisheries governance.