Cambodia has a marine mammal drawback. Dolphins, dugongs and different species are caught and killed in fishers’ nets or wash up lifeless on seashores commonly, however nobody is aware of what number of, precisely why or methods to cease it.
To fill the void of knowledge, a neighborhood NGO skilled residents of 36 fishing communities alongside the nation’s coast to hitch a nascent citizen scientist community documenting incidents of marine mammal bycatch and strandings.
The NGO, Khmer Ocean Life, delivered coaching periods throughout Cambodia’s 4 coastal provinces — Kampot, Kep, Koh Kong and Preah Sihanouk — by way of July and August 2024.
By leveraging fishing communities’ native experience and presence on the water by way of the citizen scientist community, the group will monitor the frequency of bycatch and strandings and establish hotspots. The info will inform mitigation methods to protect Cambodia’s marine biodiversity.
The coaching periods, delivered by workers from Khmer Ocean Life and the Fisheries Administration, aimed to develop fishers’ understanding of various marine mammal species.
Group members realized methods to establish the most typical ones by form, color, measurement and options; methods to use the non-public protecting tools (PPE) wanted when dealing with lifeless animals; and methods to report physiological and geospatial information about bycatch and strandings on a easy kind. Additionally they realized how marine mammals match into the broader marine ecosystem.
“That is what we wish the communities to know,” mentioned El Lokkaman, a challenge assistant who delivers the trainings. “That dolphins and marine mammals play an necessary position within the livelihoods of fishers, they assist to take care of seagrass meadows, which in flip creates habitats for crabs and fish. Earlier than, individuals solely noticed these mammals as enjoyable creatures, however spreading this information is without doubt one of the objectives of the community.”
The fishers share fishing grounds generally known as a group fishery (CFi) — a government-recognised zone on the water that’s reserved for a selected group to handle. Two members of every collaborating CFi volunteer as liaisons to the citizen scientist community and obtain PPE and different tools to gather the info.
Every group liaison agrees to research incidents of marine mammal bycatch and strandings and to share their findings in real-time with Khmer Ocean Life’s workers by way of the messaging app Telegram.
In Neang, a commune councillor at Tomnop Rolok commune in Preah Sihanouk, turned one of many liaisons. In his group, 80 per cent of residents nonetheless depend on fishing as their major supply of revenue, and Neang mentioned he was eager to see dolphins return as it might seemingly point out a more healthy setting from which his group derives its revenue.
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Coastal marine mammals face extra intense threats attributable to their proximity to fishing actions. Gillnets have been highlighted as one of many fishing gears inflicting essentially the most predominant risk, together with longlines, trawls, traps and surrounding nets.
Sarah Tubbs, co-founder, Khmer Ocean Life
“For the reason that ports expanded, we not see the dolphins once we exit fishing,” he mentioned. “The water high quality shouldn’t be good, there may be air pollution from the port, air pollution from the town, however I’m hopeful they may return.”
Neang was equally optimistic in regards to the degree of cooperation from neighbouring CFis. “They don’t kill dolphins for meals, they aren’t attempting to catch them, so they may inform us in the event that they see them [caught as bycatch or stranded],” he mentioned.
An unquantified risk to marine life
A minimum of 10 species of marine mammals are generally present in Cambodia, together with dugongs (Dugong dugon), Indo-Pacific finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides), Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis) and endangered Irrawaddy dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris). However all of those species, together with a lot of Cambodia’s marine life, face an array of threats as habitats succumb to ongoing coastal growth and unsustainable fishing practices.
“Bycatch is the largest risk going through marine mammals all over the world,” mentioned Sarah Tubbs, Khmer Ocean Life’s co-founder and co-director. “Coastal marine mammals face extra intense threats attributable to their proximity to fishing actions. Gillnets have been highlighted as one of many fishing gears inflicting essentially the most predominant risk, together with longlines, trawls, traps and surrounding nets.”
At present, information on marine mammal bycatch and strandings are missing in Cambodia. Even tough inhabitants estimates are scarce. Fifteen Irrawaddy dolphins had been individually recognized over the course of 2018 by way of Tubbs’ analysis and no less than 10 deadly strandings of the species had been recorded between 2017 and 2020, however these research had been confined to Cambodia’s smallest province, Kep.
Fisheries Administration officers estimated in 2020 that there have been solely between 15 and 20 dugongs left within the waters of Kampot and Kep provinces, though conservation efforts centered in Kep have resulted in a newfound hope for the species.
Past this, although, the abundance of marine mammal species and the dimensions of the threats they face from human exercise are onerous to measure.
Hoping to fill this hole within the information, Newcastle College in the UK, the place Tubbs is a PhD pupil, carried out interviews with fishing communities throughout all 4 of Cambodia’s coastal provinces between September and November 2023.
From this, Tubbs hopes to estimate annual marine mammal bycatch throughout every province, however the outcomes received’t be revealed till someday in 2025. Till then, information collected by way of the citizen scientist community will present real-time insights into the place bycatch mitigation efforts are most wanted.
Collateral harm
The necessity for enhanced conservation efforts off Cambodia’s coast has grow to be extra pressing in recent times as fish shares have plummeted.
Communities alongside the coast reported that their fish catches decreased between 40 per cent and 60 per cent from 2017 to 2022, in line with analysis from the Asian Improvement Financial institution (ADB). Greater than two-thirds of coastal fishers the ADB surveyed mentioned their revenue from fishing had dropped by no less than 50 per cent between 2019 and 2022, resulting in a vicious cycle of damaging, usually unlawful fishing strategies.
“We’re seeing our catches decline every year; I feel it’s as a result of there are such a lot of unlawful pair-trawlers working in these waters, it impacts our livelihoods,” mentioned Suon Doeun, a veteran fisher who was not concerned within the citizen scientist community however has labored on trawlers out of Stung Haev port in Preah Sihanouk province for greater than 20 years.
Pair-trawlers take the essential idea of bottom-trawling and stretch a internet, usually lots of if not hundreds of meters lengthy, between two boats, which then scoop up any and all life caught between them. Pair-trawling is against the law in Cambodia, however it’s profitable in contrast with authorized types of fishing. And restricted regulation enforcement capability on the water has resulted in pair trawling and numerous different unlawful types of backside trawling selecting the waters clear with impunity.
“Pair-trawlers are destroying the marine biodiversity; the issue has grow to be a lot worse within the final two years, and the pure assets have declined considerably,” Doeun mentioned. “Years in the past, the waters had been bountiful, however now there are such a lot of pair-trawlers that it’s a wrestle to outlive. … Authorized trawling, like what we do, is turning into more durable because of this.”
The prevalence of such indiscriminate fishing strategies is why Doeun believes he sees fewer dolphins now than he did prior to now.
“They attempt to eat the fish out of our internet; we see them following from behind,” he mentioned. “I’ve by no means had one get caught in our nets, however I’ve heard they get caught in different individuals’s nets once they’re attempting to get the fish.” This, he added, is extra more likely to be deadly for dolphins caught within the nets of unlawful fishers, who he contended are extra profit-driven and fewer involved about sustainability.
Different fishers from throughout Preah Sihanouk province echoed these sentiments.
Talking to Mongabay shortly after attending a Khmer Ocean Life coaching session, Ung Vannath, a fisher from the Ou Tres flooded forest CFi, additionally pointed to pair-trawlers as the rationale for declining fish shares, misplaced revenue and dwindling marine life.
“It’s not simple to seize dolphins or dugongs, however the pair-trawlers can do it — there are various of them working out of the ports in Sihanoukville,” he mentioned. “In the event that they caught dolphins of their nets, they wouldn’t disclose that data as a result of they’re working illegally.”
Of the 15 fishers attending the coaching, Vannath signed on as one of many liaisons to report again to Khmer Ocean Life.
“I’m 28 years previous now, however after I was 15 and studying methods to fish, I noticed teams of 10 or extra dolphins without delay,” he mentioned. “Now it’s a lot smaller teams; we see them much less regularly and often farther out to sea. The decline is because of the improve in unlawful fishing; many boats have nets that catch the whole lot.”
Altering attitudes and preserving marine life
Kem An, a senior official with the Fisheries Administration in Preah Sihanouk who accompanied Khmer Ocean Life representatives on the coaching periods throughout the province, known as on communities to assist protect Cambodia’s pure assets.
“We have to change attitudes by way of preservation,” he instructed a gaggle of 11 fishers at Tomnop Rolok commune. “If we discuss in regards to the ecological system, it’ll proceed to offer for us if we protect it, we will profit sustainably.”
Sustaining a balanced marine ecosystem, he mentioned, was key to making sure that Cambodia’s coastal waters may proceed to offer a livelihood for fishers.
“We’d like clear water, we want sustainable fishing practices, so please don’t be discouraged by restrictions to fisheries,” he mentioned, explaining that these measures had been designed to cut back the pressure on marine assets.
Whereas unlawful fishing does current a risk to marine mammals, Lokkaman of Khmer Ocean Life mentioned it is just one amongst a number of. Habitat loss, local weather change, ecosystem degradation and ghost nets (deserted fishing gear that may ensnare dolphins and different marine life) all add as much as create an more and more difficult setting for marine mammals.
“Pair-trawling occurs alongside the entire shoreline; we hear about this rather a lot,” he mentioned. “Folks perceive how that impacts their group, however there may be much less understanding about what marine mammals eat, which habitats they like and the way it’s linked to ecosystems like seagrass meadows, which are sometimes misplaced in areas that get developed.”
The fast adjustments sweeping Cambodia’s coast create an pressing want for extra conservation efforts in keeping with the nation’s Aichi Biodiversity Targets and present frameworks for sustainable growth throughout coastal provinces.
However to do that, extra information are wanted to raised perceive the threats and the way they are often mitigated. To this point, Khmer Ocean Life’s citizen scientist community has filed one report on bycatch and 7 on strandings, however over the approaching months and years, the community goals to construct a sturdy information set that can assist information the preservation of Cambodia’s marine life.
This story was revealed with permission from Mongabay.com.
