Koh Rong Samloem Fisheries community has been chosen as one of six coastal fishing communities to participate in the RFLP catch monitoring program, two representatives from the Fisheries Administration Department of Finance and Planning, supported by the Regional Fisheries Livelihoods Programme of the UN FAO have started a Catch Monitoring Program with six fishing families from the Community of Koh Rong Samloem. The objective of this program is “to support the establishment and implementation in five Community Fisheries in the coastal provinces of Cambodia of a community-based marine fish catch monitoring system whereby Community members effectively monitor measures for sustainable management of their fisheries resources”.

The first monthly visit took place before Khmer New Year and aimed at introducing the objectives of the program as well as choosing the most appropriate families according to their fishing habits and equipment (squid troll lines, fish traps and crab traps).

A “Fisher’s Logbook” was given to the selected fishers, following by a 2-hour training on how to record their catches.

The second visit, on April 27th, aimed at helping the fishers to properly record their catch in the logbook, as most of them had encountered difficulties to do so. The theory was put into practice with two of the fishers bringing their catch of the day: squid and fish. This allowed a better understanding of the recording methodology and we are hoping to get good results from now on, although we will be assisting the FiA by regularly checking logbook records and helping the fishers to fill the data in if necessary.

The program is now running smoothly with monthly visits by the FiA team to collect and monitor the catch records, this is a very important step in the process of community management and will allow the FiA and fishers to closely monitor fisheries in relation to increase and decline of fish stocks and livelihoods.