Dams in Laos may kill fishing in Cambodia

"The revenue will come to Laos, by exporting energy to Thailand and Vietnam," says researcher Guy Ziv, "and the fish will be lost in the floodplains of Cambodia and Vietnam, but mainly in Cambodia." (Credit: Mekong River fishing via Shutterstock)

Monday, April 2, 2012
By Steve Tung-Stanford
Futurity.org

STANFORD (US) — Planned dams in Southeast Asia would harm fish productivity and biodiversity in the world’s largest inland fishery, a new study says.

The new dams, planned for tributaries of the Mekong River in Southeast Asia, will be more environmentally destructive and will produce less energy than the dams in the main river, according to Stanford University researcher Guy Ziv.

“You can get the same energy production with very different environmental impact, depending on which dams you build,” says Ziv, a postdoctoral scholar in biology and the lead author of a study recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The study looked at 27 tributary dams planned for construction between 2015 and 2030. The future of those dams is still to be decided, but if built they would significantly affect fishing. Laos plans to build 26 of the 27 dams, but the most significant effects will be felt in the fisheries of neighboring Cambodia.

Cambodia 'most exposed' to dams threat

Men retrieve fish from a tank on their boat yesterday on the Tonle Sap river. The pair act as middlemen, buying fish from fishermen along the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers and selling them in the capital. (Photo by: Sovan Philong)

Wednesday, 03 November 2010
Will Baxter
The Phnom Penh Post

Cambodia will have a difficult time coping with the enormous loss of fish and fisheries-based livelihoods if a proposed set of hydropower dams is constructed on the lower Mekong River – according to a recently released impact study, even if it adheres to expert recommendations.

According to the strategic environmental assessment authorised by the Mekong River Commission and released last month, “Cambodia is the country most exposed to fish losses” among the MRC’s member countries, which also include Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

The document says “more than 1 million fisheries-dependent people could lose their livelihoods” in Cambodia due to impacts from mainstream Mekong dams, and that the country would have difficulty generating alternative protein sources to make up for the loss of an estimated 300,000 tonnes of fish per year.

“The implications of these [fish] losses could be severe for many fishery-dependent families and for the whole food security of Cambodia, since more than 50 percent of all protein consumed in the country are from Mekong fish,” said Eric Baran, senior research scientist at the WorldFish Centre in Cambodia, a key consultant on the environmental assessment.

A total of 12 dams have been proposed for the Lower Mekong River in Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. In Cambodia, the government has mooted two dams for construction on the Mekong: the Sambor Dam in Kratie province’s Sambor district, and another in Stung Treng province.

Due to the potential negative effects of the projects, the SEA recommended that the MRC countries delay any decisions about initiating hydropower projects on the lower Mekong for a period of up to 10 years to allow for further research.

Speaking to reporters in Hanoi on Friday, visiting United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsed the study’s recommendation, saying there should be “a pause” before further study of the issue.

Mekong campaigners, however, have gone further, saying the construction of any dams on the river would undermine the region’s work towards reducing poverty and hunger – imposing formidable adjustment costs on Cambodia.

Ame Trandem, a Mekong campaigner at International Rivers, called for a “regional moratorium” on the construction of mainstream dams, saying any such projects “alter the river’s natural pulse and serve as a barrier to vital fish migration routes”.

Attempting to replace the protein gained from fisheries with other protein sources, she added, would be extremely expensive and complicated.

“While the dams may produce some revenue for a few, benefits are unlikely to ever reach the poor,” she added.

Alan Brooks, director of the WorldFish Centre in Cambodia, said initiatives to reduce the negative impacts caused by the dams would require “substantial investment”.

“Even if fish supply is substantially increased through aquaculture or relatively cheap imports, the fishery-dependent poor may still not benefit,” he said.

“The Mekong basin is one of the most productive aquatic systems in the world, providing essentially ‘free’ fish,” said Brooks. The depletion of fish as a protein source would require the affected population to adapt to alternative, agriculture-based livelihoods such as raising livestock, he added.

Chhith Sam Ath, director of the NGO Forum on Cambodia, said it would be “difficult to find alternative livelihoods for the rural poor”, many of whom have limited education.

Scaling back

Among its specific recommendations for Cambodia, the MRC’s assessment states that the proposed Stung Treng and Sambor dam projects would “create a situation of extreme crisis for the populations of affected provinces and could provoke an emergency food security situation for the poor”.

Two options for the Sambor dam – one that would produce 2,600 megawatts of power and a smaller 460-megawatt version – have been proposed so far. As a partial solution, the report suggested the Kingdom consider the 460-megawatt option, which would see the scaled-down, partial damming of the Sambor Rapids.

But even this might not alleviate the effects on local populations. “The option to build Sambor so that it does not block the entire channel may help avoid some impact, but is likely to still result in devastating fishery impacts.”

She added: “The loss of even a small percentage of [fisheries] represents tens of millions of dollars’ worth of fish and thousands of tonnes.”

Officials said they were taking the MRC report seriously. “We have seen the MRC reports and Cambodia has established a working group to study the overall impacts in Cambodia,” said Nao Thouk, director of the Fisheries Administration.

He said the government would hold a meeting to discuss the impacts of the projects.

Chea Narun, chief of the hydropower planning office at the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, said the government would try to “minimise the negative impacts” of the mainstream Mekong dams, though he did not give any more details.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHEANG SOKHA

Cambodia lacks the ability to administer its sea waters

06 December 2009
By Pen Bona
Radio France Internationale
Translated from Khmer by KI-Media
Click here to read the article in Khmer

Click here to listen to the audio program in Khmer

PM Hun Xen asked the authority involved to make arrangement with Thailand about the fishing activities inside Cambodian waters. Hun Xen’s oder took place after the authority closed access to Cambodian waters to all Thai fishing boats for a period of time. The authorization to allow foreign boats to catch fish in Cambodian waters is under criticism by the opposition and civil society, however, to the government, this is the best choice to bring money to state coffer.
The administration of sea waters is a complicated issue for Cambodia. Hun Xen publicly recognized about this difficulty and, ultimately, the government allowed fishing boats from neighboring countries to come and catch fish in Cambodian waters in exchange for money paid to the state coffer.

At a speech given during the inauguration of a road construction site in Siem Reap province, next to the Thai border, on Saturday, Hun Xen explained that the administration of the vast sea waters is a difficult task. This is the reason why foreign boats are allowed to fish in Cambodian waters through mutual arrangements and understanding along with payment to Cambodian authority.

This policy came under intense criticisms from the opposition and civil society, as well as from a number of Cambodian fishermen. Critics said that the Cambodian government’s action is tantamount to allowing free reign to foreign fishermen to destroy Cambodian water resources.

According to Cambodian fishermen, Thai and Vietnamese fishing boats use modern and illegal equipments allowing them to catch huge amount fish and other sea products. These Cambodian fishermen are concerned about the destruction of fisheries in Cambodian waters, and they blame the government’s inability to administer its sea waters.

However, to Hun Xen, this is the only best possible administration because it allows the government to earn some income rather than allowing foreign boats to sneak in and fish illegally since the government cannot administer these waters.

Nevertheless, on 04 December, the Cambodian Council of Ministers recently approved a draft law to set up a national committee for open sea security. The explanation provided for the setup of this committee is to administer the sovereignty of Cambodian sea waters with the aim of protecting national resources.

Forestry protection activist shot and killed in Stung Treng

05 July 2007
By Ratha Visal
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

45-year-old Seng Saran, the leader of a community group to protect local forestry and fisheries in Sre Kor commune, Sesan district, Stung Treng province, died after he was shot by an unknown assailant at 7:30 PM on Wednesday 04 July 2007.

Som Cha, Seng Saran’s Lao wife, confirmed that he was shot by a bullet fired from the bottom of their house, while he was sitting upstairs eating with his family. The bullet pierced his buttock and he passed away half an hour later.

The wife of the victim said that she does not know the cause of the assassination, but her husband led the villagers in natural resources protection activities. Seng Saran’s wife called for a search of her husband’s assassin to be brought to face justice: “Please help me find justice, if he can be found, let him die like my husband.”

Ting Sing, the No. 1 Sre Kor commune councilor, said the Seng Saran was recently nominated as the leader of the community group to protect local forestry and fisheries, following the increase in the number of illegal local logging and fishing activities.

Ting Sing said that the assassination is not political, but that it was done because of revenge instead. “If he had disputes (with others), I don’t know about them, but as far as (the assassination) being political, there is no way.”

At the location where the incident took place, the police found one bullet shell – similar to that of an AK-47 machine gun – underneath the victim’s house. However, they did not find any other evidence on the identity of the assassin.

Kang Mao, Sre Kor police chief, said the police cannot evaluate the nature of assassination because experts are still conducting their assessment, and they are looking into the bullet lodged in the victim’s body. “They are reviewing the bullet which is still stuck inside his body.”

Chhay Ret, an official of Adhoc human rights organization who visited the incident spot on 05 July 2007, said that Adhoc officials are conducting their investigation into this case, but that so far, no evidence can be found and no witnesses have come forward to talk about the cause of this savage assassination.

Chhay Ret said: “He was shot from the bottom of his house, and there is no sign of the assassin. However, be fore he died, he called the commune chief by phone, asking him for help. When the commune chief arrived, he already died. I cannot make any assumption, we are looking into the cause and we are performing preliminary investigations.”

Sre Kor commune councilors said that in the past anarchy took place in the commune with the illegal logging of precious woods, and the destruction of fisheries. These incidents were perpetrated by a number of armed local government officials.

Seng Saran is himself an Adhoc activist in Stung treng province, and he is also the leader of the community group to protect local forestry and fisheries which was organized by the Sipa organization in Strung Treng province.

According to an Adhoc official, a few days earlier, Seng Saran led the villagers in a protest to protect the lands which were grabbed by a land concession company.