Wednesday September 14, 2022
Khmer Times —
Over the last decade, Wonders of the Mekong has observed that Cambodia’s natural fisheries resources are dwindling and unable to adequately supply the daily needs of the people.
The initiative highlighted in its September 9 report that climate change, flooding, illegal fishing, destruction of natural ecosystems, deforestation, flooded forest fire, loss of fish habitats, and land reclamation had caused serious damage to natural fisheries resources.
“Cambodia is a country with vast Tonle Sap, the Mekong River, lakes which supply hundreds of thousands of tons of fish for domestic consumption and export, but now it been acknowledged that a large number of those natural resources are no longer available to supply us, they are gone and some are endangered, with only a small amount left to supply until today,” the Friday report stated.
However, the Wonders of the Mekong project did not provide statistics on declining or depleted natural fisheries resources in its report, stating only that for the conservation of the fish, it had collected juvenile fish from the Mekong River, including the Catlocarpio siamnsis and Pangasianodon gigas species to grow out in ponds to be released into the lake.