Community Fisheries - CFDO

Abstraction

Fishery resources are under heavy pressure from an increasing population that uses natural resources for their livelihoods; as well as increased conflict spreading amongst the areas, the conflicts come from benefices and the person who use fisheries resources.

Unsuccessful in using a single method of law reform in caring for fisheries resources, with problems and conflicts in using fisheries resources. The results show that the poor fishers are incapable of making a living for their livelihoods, without recourse to using illegal fishing and thus the fishery resources become decreased.

In October 2000 the Royal Government of Cambodia started a reform to release around 56% of fishing lots in Cambodia to fishers who set up Community Fisheries to manage these fishing lots that are release and cut from lots. Fisheries reform has the objective to make realistic use of fishery resources in a sustainable manner and to increase the standard of living of fishers.

Up until now 360 Community Fisheries have been established and are undergoing a transitional period across the Country, with no policy regulating guidelines for implementation, or measures taken to set up and manage methods by Community Fisheries with a vision for Cambodia which has low human resources knowledge, experience and limited management capacity.

According to study, the vision and definition deferent for Community Fisheries as Co Fisheries Community management Fisheries Resources management depends on the community and Community Fisheries.
Community Fisheries amount to 6 types and undergo about 13 steps for management, but no one Community Fishery has implemented all of those steps.

Establishment and declaration guidelines have a slow course to establishment, and Community Fisheries management are not yet good enough because they do not know their duties, responsibilities or rights for using natural resources and managing them.

By promoting and supporting the fisheries authorities, relevant institutions, non-government organisations and international organisations, some Community Fisheries are well implemented, although some Community Fisheries have been implemented better than others.

Community Fisheries need a solid implementation and development to achieve their goal, which need time and enough of a budget to develop a full policy and to define their duties, responsibilities and rights. These can be achieved by promoting and supporting all areas as well as motivating in integrating the implementation smoothly from top to bottom.