Conservation : Noun

The protection of natural resourses

To Conserve : Verb

To prevent something from being wasted, damaged, or destroyed

To Protect : Verb

To prevent something from being harmed or damaged

Cambodia is a country with very rich and diverse marine habitats and marine resources these resource's are fundamental to local fishing community livelihoods and also to the development of coastal Cambodia. It is vital to maintain constant coastal protection, This benefits Marine Habitat bio-diversity, which in turn benefits the fishing communities that rely on these resources, these marine resources also play an important part role in the development of sustainable eco-tourism directly benefiting the local communities and the country of Cambodia as a whole.

These natural marine habitats and resources are in jeopardy, threatened by an increasing array of impacts from uncontrolled development, an increasing population, unregulated tourism activities and destructive unsustainable fishing methods all of these issues put a burden on Cambodia's marine resources. These impacts must be investigated and controlled to maintain a sustainable balance that benefits Cambodia and the Communities that rely on them.

Cambodia’s seas are home to many rare and endangered species, an example being the diversity of seahorses (H. hippocampus, H. histrix, H. kuda), Dugong (Dugong dugon), green turtles (Chelonia mydas), and horseshoe crabs (Tachypleus gigas, Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda) which remain on the IUCN Red List of Threatened species.

Recently there has been a large increase in demand for these marine resources due to a steep increase in population and increased tourism. This has lead to more intensive fishing through unsustainable means and encroachment by fisherman on the inshore areas, such as coastal reefs and fragile breeding grounds. This encroachment is threatening the biodiversity and health of species and habitats throughout Cambodian waters. Anecdotal data collection continues to show the rapid loss of species rich sites.

To address these issues and offer comprehensive protection for biodiversity, site protection is imperative. Marine Conservation Cambodia, in conjunction with The Cambodia Fisheries Administration (FIA), aims to assist in the protection these natural marine resources.

Over the past few years our team has witnessed many illegal activities such as, dynamite fishing, cyanide fishing, illegal bottom trawling in inshore areas, use of illegal fishing gears, dumping of hazardous substances, anchoring directly over coral reefs, collection of endangered species such as seahorses, turtles and dugongs, destruction of coral reefs and sea-grass beds through destructive fishing techniques. By bringing these issues to the attention of the relevant government departments and to the wider global community, we have started to reduce the no of occurrence's of such activities.

We hope that as more marine conservation organisations arrive this proccess will continue to the point that official protected areas will be established.

Why Marine Conservation Cambodia was established

Marine Conservation Cambodia was founded by a group of scuba divers who began to witness the increased destruction of the areas they loved to dive. After losing whole dive sites to illegal weighted net bottom trawling and seeing the coral reefs dynamited, the team witnessed their favorite seahorse site decimated by illegal Vietnamese fishermen who came specifically to target the seahorse breeding grounds in search of the seahorses the team loved to visit. Two boats were caught by the local community and a catch of over 70 seahorses was confiscated, unfortunately there were no survivors as all the seahorses were put immediately in an ice box after being caught. The sight of all these dead seahorses made the team understand that the need for constant protection was immediate and urgent, so the team of divers created Marine Conservation Cambodia, through constant communication with the FIA (Cambodian Fisheries Administration) and with the support of the local community a movement for protection and conservation was established. Marine Conservation Cambodia has continued to grow in both numbers and support.

Marine Conservation Cambodia is now working side by side with the local community and the FIA not only assisting in the protection of the area but also in support of the community, assisting in the management, care and sustainable use of the resources within the established community fishing area.

Through these efforts the Community itself has now been registered as an offical fisheries community allowing it to manage and protect its own designated marine area under the direction of the FIA (Cambodian Fisheries Administration).