Status of shrimp farming in Cambodia.

Abstract

In the South-Western part of the country, Cambodia has 435 km coastline in the Gulf of Thailand, which stretches between the Vietnamese borders in the South to the Thai border in the West.

The fisheries sector plays a vital function in Cambodia's food supply, particularly the poor. It is also important for Cambodia's national economy that most national incomes come from this sector through exploitation and exportation. According to the latest official data recorded by the Department of Fisheries (DoF), the total commercial fisheries production in 2002 was 424,400 metric tons, which included the small scale and family scale freshwater fisheries and aquaculture production, except crocodile culture (DoF, 2003). In this case, freshwater fish capture dominates the production, which accounted for 85% of the total production in 2002, while marine capture fisheries was 11%. The total aquaculture production represented only more than 4%. Even fish production increased in fish capture fisheries. The increasing production trend of the capture fisheries indicates overexploitation of fishery resources, hence, there is a need to restore fishery resources. To address this, local fishers need alternative jobs in order to enhance their livelihood and encourage them to minimize over fishing and also from destructive fishing practices. One of the options also is to promote aquaculture.