WE ARE MARINE CONSERVATION CAMBODIA
Our mission
MCC’s mission is to protect and restore Cambodia’s diverse and beautiful marine ecosystems while ensuring that the communities who depend on them can continue to thrive. This mission emerged out of necessity: to safeguard Cambodia’s ocean ecosystems through proactive conservation and marine research that informs the adaptive management of Marine Fisheries Management Areas (MFMAs). By promoting responsible, sustainable fishing practices and supporting local communities, we strive to create long-term ecological and economic resilience.
Through a combination of science, conservation action, and collaboration with local and national partners, we are working toward a healthier, more sustainable future for Cambodia’s ocean and the people who call it home.
OUR approach
At MCC, protecting the ocean begins with understanding it. We start by identifying key threats, studying local ecosystems, and working alongside fishers, community members, and government partners to find practical, lasting solutions. By connecting science, community action, and policy support, we create conservation strategies that deliver real results. Our work includes seagrass and seahorse monitoring, marine mammal surveys, citizen science initiatives, and environmental education programs. We also take direct conservation action through methods such as deploying Fishery Productivity Structures (FPS) to safeguard critical habitats. At the same time we work alongside our government partners to support the establishment and management of Marine Fisheries Management Areas (MFMAs) and to implement local law-enforcement strategy.
In MCC’s early years, our hands-on approach often drew the most attention, but behind every visible action was a foundation of research, community engagement, and advocacy. This scientific and community-grounded understanding continues to guide everything we do. Ongoing data collection and monitoring allow us to refine our strategies, ensuring an adaptive, evidence-based approach to sustainable fisheries management.
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our history
Marine Conservation Cambodia (MCC) was founded in 2008 by Paul Ferber in response to the rapid decline of Cambodia’s coastal ecosystems. In the early years, MCC contributed to the creation of Cambodia’s first Marine Fisheries Management Area (MFMA) around Koh Rong and Koh Rong Samloem, helping establish the country’s first large-scale marine protection efforts.
In 2013, the planning process for a second MFMA in Kep Province began, and MCC was invited to collaborate with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), the Fisheries Administration, and local government partners. The following year, in 2014, MCC moved its operational base to Koh Ach Seh to support this work and to respond to the widespread habitat degradation caused by illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activities.
Over the next five years, MCC carried out marine research, habitat mapping, community engagement, and regular patrols, contributing scientific and field-based knowledge to the MFMA planning process. In 2018, the Kep MFMA was formally approved, designed to protect seagrass meadows, coral reefs, and shellfish habitats while supporting traditional fishing communities.
Since then, Kep’s marine environment has shown encouraging recovery: seagrass and coral habitats are regenerating, fish populations are increasing, and threatened species such as dugongs have been sighted again. Based on these successes in 2024, MCC signed a contract with the MAFF to expand our conservation efforts to the entire coast of Cambodia, with the deployment of 5.000 FPS through the Sustainable Coastal and Marine Fisheries project.
Today, MCC continues to protect and restore Cambodia’s marine ecosystems through science, conservation, and strong collaboration with national and local partners.