Khmer Times –
Government officials and experts with USAID yesterday held a workshop to discuss the management and conservation of vulnerable fish species through the latter’s Wonders of the Mekong project.
The project is designed to bring increased public awareness to fish conservation in a bid to build a sustainable future.
Saray Samadee, the project’s coordinator, said in a statement that fish migration in the Mekong river basin helps to support the world’s largest inland fishery and provides livelihoods for millions of people.
The Sekong-Mekong Tonle Sap river corridor is considered a vital migration corridor used by fish classified as critically endangered, she added.
“A strategic, science-based management approach is needed to connect management of critical habitats, mitigate threats, and protect this vital fisheries resource,” she said. “However, no vision currently exists for such an approach in Cambodia.”
Eng Chea San, Fisheries Administration director-general, said the Tonle Sap lake is one of the most productive and diverse lakes in the world.
Mr Chea San said nearly 900 species of fish have been recorded in the Mekong river basin, 165 of which are migratory fish species.
He added that the government has been implementing programmes for migratory species in order to monitor larval and juvenile fish in the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers.