Table 1: The total number of fishing lots by years
Bagnet lots Bagnet lots Bagnet lots for River sand seed of for white for Prawn bank lots lady carp Pangasious sp.
Year
Total no. of lots
Lake or Stream lots
Bagnet lots
1980-88
307
143
96
-
13
-
55
11
1989-90
302
141
76
7
13
31
34
13
1991-92
301
141
76
8
13
31
32
15
1993-94
298
141
74
8
13
31
31
15
1995-96
279
141
63
8
13
31
23
15
1997
248
141
63
8
13
0
23
15
Fish sanctuary
(Source: Degen and Thouk, 2000; Barn, 2004) After 2000, the total number of commercial fishing lots in Cambodia was reduced from 135 to 82. However, in Tonle Sap there were 56 fishing lots, located in six provinces, before 2000. In 2000, the Royal Government of Cambodia reformed the fisheries sectors and fishing lot management. Large areas of commercial fishing lots were withdrawn in part or in whole for local people’s use. After 2001, only 38 commercial fishing lots remained (Table 2). Table 2: The reduction of fishing lot area in 2001 for local people’s use
Province
Fishing lot area in 2000 No. of lots
Bantey Meanchey
Fishing lot area in 2001
Lot area (ha)
No. of lots
Lot area (ha)
Net reduction in lot area (%)
4
32,756
2
6,398
80.5
Battamabng
12
146,532
9
102,718
29.9
Kampong Chhnang
19
62,256
12
45,085
27.6
Kampong Thom
7
127,126
7
69,353
45.5
Pursat
7
55,120
5
24,848
54.9
Siem Reap
7
83,941
3
22,725
72.9
56
507,731
38
271,127
46.60
Total
(Source: DoF, 2001. Sub-decrees of the fishing lot released for local people’s use) Total fishing lot area around the Tonle Sap had been reduced, from 507,731 ha to 271,127 between 2000 and 2001. This reduction represents 47% of the total fishing lot area in the Tonle Sap. Moreover, the reduction in fishing lot area had occurred long before 2000. Degen et al. (2000), Van Zalinge et al. (2000) and DoF (2001) all show that in 1919, the fishing lot areas covered 603,880 ha in the Tonle Sap. However, by 1940, this fell to only 444,970 ha. Throughout the 1990s, several fishing lots were abolished and in 1998 the fishing areas were reduced to 390,000 ha (Van Zalinge et al., 2000). From 1998 and 2000 the fishing lot areas increased again to 507,371 ha and then dropped to nearly half between 1998 and 2000 (Table 3).
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