Food Security in Rural Cambodia and Fishing in the Mekong in the Light of Declining Fish Stocks

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.18278/wfp.2.2.3.1.2
• Author: Ulrike Grote,Dorothee Bühler,Rebecca Hartje
• Date: 01 March 2016
• Published date: 01 March 2016

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World Food Policy - Volume 2, Issue 2/Volume 3, Issue 1, Fall 2015/Spring 2016

Introduction

Fish is without doubt the second

most important food next to rice in

Cambodia. As much as 75% to 79%

of the annual consumption of animal

protein is supplied by sh and as many

as 39% of Cambodian households have

at least one member engaged in shing

(Ahmed et al. 1998; Israel et al. 2007).

According to Baran (2005), Cambodia is

the most intensive inland shery in the

world with ~20 kg of sh per capita caught

annually. e majority of Cambodian

shers are engaged in small- to medium-

scale sheries which supply the largest

part of the annual catch volume (Van

Zalinge et al. 2000). Along with the

importance of sh, agriculture remains

the most signicant source of income in

rural Cambodia. In this context shing

can be viewed as a means of diversication

to reduce risk or mitigate the impact of

crop failure (Baran 2005; Smith, Nguyen

Khoa, and Lorenzen 2005). Besides its

cultural importance and inuence on

Fishing in the Mekong River is of utmost importance for rural livelihoods in

parts of Cambodia. As a result of ecosystem changes, sh stocks are expected

to decline. Using data on 600 rural households collected in two waves in 2013

and 2014 in the province of Stung Treng, we assess the current situation of

food security in relation to shing. To proxy food security, we consider energy

and protein intakes as well as Food Security Indexes. Quantitative results show

that shing households had a more nutritious diet in the past week, are more

engaged in subsistence activities and had lower additional food expenditure.

Furthermore, shing is eective in reducing seasonal food insecurity for

households in the lowest income quartile. In the light of declining sh stocks

these ndings underscore the need for shing households to adjust their

income earning activities to the expected changes. We call for policymakers to

account for the most sh-dependent groups of the population when designing

or adjusting development policies for the area that could potentially aect sh

stocks.

Keywords: Cambodia, Fishing, Mekong River, Nutrition, Food Security

Indicators

Rebecca HartjeA, Dorothee BühlerA & Ulrike GroteA

Food Security in Rural Cambodia and Fishing in the

Mekong in the Light of Declining Fish Stocks

A Institute for Environmental Economics and World Trade, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany.

doi: 10.18278/wfp.2.2.3.1.2

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Food Security in Rural Cambodia and Fishing in the Mekong in the Light of Declining Fish Stocks

people’s subjective well-being (Bush 2004;

Marschke and Berkes 2006), it plays an

essential role in ensuring food security in

many rural households not only through

sh consumption but also through cash

income from selling sh. More than 50%

of the small-scale shers’ catch is sold

(Hori et al. 2006; Navy and Bhattarai

2009). Fish is an ideal food to improve

food security in developing countries

such as Cambodia because, despite access

regulations, it is easily accessible even

for poor households and it has a high

density of proteins and micronutrients

(Kawarazuka and Béné 2010; 2011).

Although the livelihood

outcomes2 of many rural Cambodians

depend on small-scale capture sheries,

the output from aquaculture still remains

low (Hortle, Lieng, and Valbo-Jorgensen

2004; Hortle 2007; Navy and Bhattarai

2009). At the same time, aquaculture is

undertaken by only a limited number of

households in the area (Bush 2004). Aer

the end of political unrest in the 1990s

Cambodia’s shing output increased.

ere is an academic debate whether

sh stocks are currently declining (

Hortle, Lieng, and Valbo-Jorgensen 2004;

Baran, Jantunen, and Chong 2007). Most

current empirical evidence points at a

negative development of sh stocks in the

Mekong River, especially in important

migratory species which contribute

signicantly to the catch in the study site

of this article (Roberts and Baird 1995;

Baran and Myschowoda 2009; Orr et al.

2012). However, even if sh stocks were

currently not declining, reduction in the

near future seems to be certain (Baran

and Myschowoda 2008). Declining

shing margins are already observed

because costs increase and output per

shing trip decreases (Navy and Bhattarai

2009). ere is a number of reasons for

the reduction of sh stocks, among them

are the construction of hydroelectric

dams in the upstream countries of the

Mekong River, habitat loss, overshing

due to improved technology, increasing

population, and illegal shing practices

(Hortle, Lieng, and Valbo-Jorgensen

2004; Hori et al. 2006; Baran, Jantunen,

and Chong 2007; Navy and Bhattarai

2009). e active management of sh

resources and enforcement of shing

regulations is important to sustain the

extraordinary productivity of Cambodian

sheries (Degen and uok 1998).

However, these measures may prove to

be useless if the construction of further

dams for hydropower as well as for water

regulation and irrigation leads to articial

changes in water levels and barring of

sh-spawning grounds resulting in a

reduction of shing output (Hortle,

Lieng, and Valbo-Jorgensen 2004; Ziv et

al. 2012).

Part of the narrative of decreasing

sh stocks in the Mekong river is the

fear that the decline will lead to reduced

food security (Arthur and Friend 2011).

1 e concept of livelihoods is extensive and refers to more than what is the focus of this article. We refer

to the term of livelihood to point at the importance of shing among the wide portfolio of livelihood

activities undertaken by the rural households to earn a living. While in theory livelihood outcomes in-

clude various results of these activities for a household, we focus on food security as it is the main point

of concern in this article.