Upland Fishing and Indigenous Punong Fisheries Management in Southern Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia
February 2005 Upland Fishing and Indigenous Punong Fisheries Management in Southern Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia
February 2005
Peter Degen, Chap Piseth, Peter Swift and Hang Mary
contracted by: Wildlife Conservation Society WCS funded by: FAO, at the request of DFID and Danida, through the Trust Fund of the Donor Working Group on Natural Resource Management in Cambodia. cover photo by: Eleanor Briggs
Disclaimer The opinions and interpretations expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Wildlife Conservation Society. Acknowledgements
This is the final report of a project funded by FAO through grant GCP/CMP/012/UK. Support was provided at the request of DFID and Danida, through the Trust Fund of the Donor Working Group on Natural Resource Management in Cambodia (WGNRM).
This study has received the support of many people. The authors feel sincerely indebted to all of them. Most of all we are thankful not only for the time and patience Punong villagers, women and men, and local authorities gave us but also for their hospitality and friendliness.
We are grateful to the staff at the camps in O Reang and Samling for sharing with us their experiences and insights into the local situation. We are obliged to Joe Walston and Tom Evans from WCS for their guidance, encouraging discussions and comments. Warm thanks go to Ouch Vutha and Sandrine Pantel for their assistance in mapping and Ngor Peng Bun for his support in setting up a database and in query- ing the data. Kent Hortle volunteered to comment on the report and we are thankful for his suggestions. We give special thanks to Uli Schmidt for his time and dedication to discuss our experiences and findings and for his patience to read and comment on previous drafts.
Note on species names
No specimens were collected during this study, since the focus was on social rather than biological aspects. Therefore all species names given in the text should be treated as provisional. Contents
Acknowledgements Note on species names
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...... 1 RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 7 esckþIsegçb>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>8 Gnusasn_ >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>15 1 INTRODUCTION ...... 17
2 ECOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL FEATURES ...... 21
3 PEOPLE ...... 27
4 TRADITIONAL NATURAL RESOURCES AND FISHERIES MANAGEMENT 34
5 RECENT TRENDS...... 38
6 CONSEQUENCES FOR MANAGEMENT ...... 40
7. RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 43
8. REFERENCES ...... 45
Glossary ...... 48
ANNEXES Annex 1 Fish of the headwaters of Chhlong River ...... 49 Annex 2 Seasonality of sources of food ...... 56 Annex 3 Fishing gears...... 58 Annex 4 Fishing with natural poisons...... 63 Annex 5 Habitation of important spirits...... 68 Annex 6 Important waterfalls (leng) ...... 69 Annex 7 Important deep pools in Chhlong river basin...... 70 Annex 8 Important ponds (trapeangs)...... 74 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The study followed largely a qualitative INTRODUCTION approach. Complementary to empirical The Southern Mondulkiri Biodiversity social science instruments such as Conservation Project (SMBCP), jointly semi-structured interviews of randomly implemented by the Wildlife Conservation and/or purposely selected individuals or Society (WCS) and the Forestry groups, a variety of participatory tools Administration (FA) and operated under were used. Meetings and interviews were the overall management of the Ministry of geared towards generating information, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), but also served to enhance villagers' will- aims at promoting suitable land-use man- ingness to actively engage in fishing prac- agement that allows for effective conserva- tices that are environmentally sound and tion of wildlife and key resources. economically and socially beneficial in the long term. A standard form was used to Fish resources in the project area in conduct a census of the main fishing Mondulkiri Province have come increasing- gears and their operation, and selling and ly under pressure and drastic declines in buying of fish products. Complementary to fish catches are reported. A variety of this, a survey of reported fish migrations causes are suggested for this trend, and fishing operations was conducted, including intensified use of illegal and envi- using transects and semi-structured inter- ronmentally unsound fishing gears and views with key persons, in villages along encroachment of outsiders into traditional the middle and lower reaches of the fishing grounds and forest lands of Punong Chhlong river. (=Phnong) villages. A continued loss of fisheries resources could increase the pressure on other resources which are ECOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL FEATURES equally vital for the livelihoods of the The study area is part of the Chhlong river Punong people. ecosystem. The source of the Chhlong river is located in the up-lands of O Rang The present study was commissioned by district (at approx. 460 masl) between the WCS in order to identify opportunities and Punong villages of Pu Poanh and Pu Chu strategies for the sustainable utilization of Loe. Its headwaters drain the southern aquatic resources. It focused on three slopes of the Sen Monorom Plateau, also administrative villages in the SMBCP, called the Chhlong Plateau. namely O Am, Kati and Andong Kraloeng. Its immediate objective was to "provide an Along the Chhlong River's 200 km path initial understanding of the role of fisheries down-stream, its waters are fed by a in selected communities in the landscape series of tributaries of different sizes, with area that will allow for the integration of some of the smaller creeks drying out upland fisheries into natural resource completely during the dry season. management programmes at the village Physiographically, the Chhlong river can and landscape level". The study focused be divided into four sections: the head on social and ecological setting, practice waters, from the upper reaches of the of fishing operations, fisheries as part of river and its uppermost tributaries down to natural resources management structures, the waterfalls; the middle reaches from historical dimensions, and economic and the waterfalls down to the junction where social trends and their implications for NRM.
1 the O Pórr river enters the Chhlong; the are reported to overcome sizable waterfalls lower Chhlong basin, comprising the stretch (8-10 m high) and migrate up to the head- between the junction with the O Pórr river waters. According to rainfall and water and Boeng Kiep Village in Kratie Province depth, fish undertake a sort of oscillating (roughly the maximum point to which lateral migration between flooded areas and waters of the Mekong back up at times nearby pools, moving to the pools when during the year); and the Mekong back-up waters are low and returning to the flooded from Boeng Kiep to the Mekong River. areas with new rains. Fish also make short The target villages of the present study longitudinal migrations between different are located partly within the upper part of pools along the riverbed. All fish species the middle reaches and the head waters of found in the headwaters of Chhlong river the Chhlong river and its tributaries. In this reportedly spawn there, mostly in June. area there are many streams, all of which have names in Punong language evidence Most fish migrating downstream in the that they are important landmarks. Chhlong river basin (generally from Likewise, all waterfalls and important deep September to November) re-enter the pools are given specific names, and most Mekong river. However, there are some of them are also attractive fishing species that stay in pools in the lower grounds. reaches of the Chhlong river. Big fish species apparently stay just a short time The dry season, from November to April, within the river basin and they are the first and rainy season, from early May to to migrate down-stream. Smaller specimens October, condition water availability in the of these species commonly stay a longer rivers and mark the rhythm of fishing sea- time in the river basin and down-migrate sons and gear use patterns. The seasonal with other fish species, starting later in flood-pulse drives the fisheries system by September. increasing the water volume in the rivers, inundating vast areas of floodplains and re-connecting swamps, ponds and lakes to PEOPLE the river channels. The Chhlong river and The Punong are indigenous people. its tributaries are functionally linked to the Together with other indigenous groups Mekong River and its associated flood- they represent around 70% of the popula- plains, including the Tonle Sap Great Lake tion in Mondulkiri province. Kati and floodplains, through spawning, refuge and Andong Kroloeng villages consist primarily feeding migrations mainly of the long-distant of ethnic Punong people, but a few migratory fish species. Khmers have moved in either to do busi- ness or as a result of intermarriage with In general terms, fish start migrating Punong. Both Kati and Andong Kraloeng up-stream in late April or May at the are officially recognized administrative beginning of the rainy season, penetrating villages, but comprise numerous smaller into the headwaters and tributaries and socially recognized Punong settlements (3 entering the upriver flood plains that are in the case of Kati, and 6 in the case of intermittently connected to the river Andong Kraloeng). In general, public system according to local water levels. administration refers to these settlements as "krom" or sector, though sometimes Waterfalls mark drastic changes in eleva- one krom consists of two separate settle- tion at the headwaters and constitute ments. natural filters for fish migrations. Many migratory species only reach the lowest The administrative village of O Am differs waterfall. However, a number of species significantly from Kati and Andong 2 Kroloeng. It is a major market place and point of in-migration, and is divided into By far, the most important fishing method 18 "kroms" with mostly Khmer families in Punong villages has been, traditionally, (>82%), and some Stieng (6%) and fishing with natural poisons. This method Punong (8%) in addition to four ethnic has been critical for providing villagers Vietnamese and five ethnic Lao families. with a large amount of fish in a short time, allowing them to make fish paste Natural Resource Use and Livelihoods (locally called "ka óm". Fishing with natural Punong traditional culture reflects their poisons is part of the cultural heritage of dependence on the forest. Their livelihood the Punong. Commonly, the use of this and coping strategies are based on a deep method is slightly different in each loca- ecological knowledge that allows them to tion and requires the consent of the spirits take advantage of native trees and other and a well organized group of people to plants, fish and other animals, rivers and cope with multiple tasks. Environmentally, land. They have traditionally hunted, natural poisons appear to have limited long raised buffaloes, cows, pigs, chickens and term impact, and they naturally degrade dogs, fished in rivers and ponds and col- and lose their effectiveness within 24 lected a variety of forest products for hours. Snakeheads and most catfish food, use in construction or fishing (fish- species, crustaceans, amphibians, and ing gear and fish poisons), and medicinal humans are all little affected by the natu- purposes. The forest has provided sub- ral substances. stantially for food security, with a vast variety of products available during the Most other fishing activities are undertak- yearly cycle. At times when a cultivated en individually and without any gender crop is scarce, a substitute can often be differentiation, with two exceptions: found; for example, natural tubers may scooping baskets are only used by women substitute when rice stores are low. and children, and castnets are largely used by men. However, men participate more The importance of fishing and the collec- intensively in fishing activities than tion of other aquatic animals is indicated women. by the time people dedicate to this activi- ty, which is, reportedly, much more than Cosmovision the time spent hunting for terrestrial ani- Punong animist religious beliefs and prac- mals. The consumption of domestic ani- tices are shaped by the need to provide mals is largely restricted to sacrifices and access to, share and make the best use of other special occasions. Traditionally, fish vital resources. Within the Punong world- was never sold, but shared. Today, fish view, humans are part of a community of products are becoming increasingly a com- beings. Social values such as reciprocity modity of trade. and respect for each other apply to human- animal as well as human-human relation- Fishing operations ships. These relationships are controlled Punong people in the headwaters of the by the spirits which inhabit mountains, Chhlong river have, traditionally, used a special forest places and/or trees, salt rather limited number of fishing gears, licks, waterfalls, or deep pools in rivers or compared to the enormous variety of ponds. fishing gears and methods used in the floodplains of the Tonle Sap and Mekong. Places which spirits are believed to inhabit The spectrum of traditional gear types are associated with vital and potentially includes fishing by hand, scooping baskets high yielding natural resources. Often they (chneang), covering and lifting gears, hook can be dangerous and life threatening. In lines, gillnets, basket traps, small barrage order to protect individuals and the com- systems, and pumping out of small water munity, rules of conduct (including taboos) bodies. Gillnets and hooks are the most are invoked periodically or at specific frequently fishing gears. events. Collective spirit ceremonies create
3 transparency and cohesion within the Traditional Fisheries Management Rules community; ceremonies are not a matter Access and rights regimes are central of secret worship by an individual but are elements of fisheries management. celebrated as public events. The obligation Fisheries management measures are to hold a spirit ceremony in places that embedded into the cultural background potentially yield abundant harvests eventu- (cosmovision, knowledge system, traditions, ally implies sharing of the harvest. It is religious beliefs, etc.) of Punong people. considered not possible for an individual to conduct a major fishing operation with Traditional fisheries management includes natural poisons, unless he is willing to risk both intentional and inadvertent measures. that the spirits punish him and/or the com- Practices and taboos related to appeasing munity. Thus, spirits facilitate cultural, the spirits and preventing the community social and physical reproduction of the from suffering punishment by the spirits community as an institution. can be seen as management measures as they directly regulate access to the resources and influence their sustainability. TRADITIONAL NATURAL RESOURCES AND FISHERIES MANAGEMENT Access to fishing grounds is granted as set of rules of conduct with regard to dif- ferent types of fishing grounds, including Traditional Management Institutions rules of respect to the spirits. In principle, A Punong "village" is defined by a set of access to fish is granted to everybody village specific attributes including a village who follows these rules. Individual fishing "neak ta" (guardian spirit), boundaries and is allowed everywhere, except in areas a burial ground. Villagers have a clear reserved for communal fishing with natural understanding of their village boundaries. poisons and certain closed areas. This Traditional Punong authorities, with their measure translates into geographically lim- main function as stewards of local cultural iting the resource pressure. Closed areas values, are still more influential than formal are often deep pools associated with authorities appointed by higher level waterfalls. Their existence limits fishing authorities. The most important traditional effort and facilitates stock recovery and authorities are "me Kontreanh", "chas recruitment. Taboos and rules of conduct srok", and the elders. Every village clearly that relate to expressing modesty and identifies its elders representing the different respect to nature while retrieving benefits family lines. They are very important in from it are widespread. The main gear transmitting Punong non-written culture, restriction is on the dose of natural sub- from one generation to the next, and are stances used in poisoning. Introduced and vested with a high degree of authority. highly damaging fishing methods, such as Frequently, they participate next to the electrocuting, chemical poisoning, throwing chas srok in conflict resolution and give of grenades and the use of small mosquito advice to young people and newly married net bagnets are rejected and negatively couples. The village elders, chas sroks, sanctioned by the traditional authorities. etc. function within the context of the The principle of sharing of wild products modern administrative system of village and effectively translates into economizing use commune chiefs. Conflicts between gener- of natural resources, including fish. ations do not seem to be very significant Certain places, including some pools, can currently, even though younger genera- only be accessed for poison fishing follow- tions have different interests than the ing a sacrifice to the local spirit. Sacrifices elders. Customary laws not only include are an integral part of the fishing activity but are based on obligations to the ances- in these areas. The sacrifice is intended to tors or the spirits. Taboos and rules of provide for a bountiful fish catch, but also respect to the spirits act as deterrents and limits fishing intensity by individuals are enforced by the elders. because costs are incurred by "investing" in a spirit ceremony.
4 Formal legal framework ing the commune councils) has led to All fishing activities undertaken within the increased centralization in Punong commu- "inland fisheries domain" are subject to nities, where for most purposes villages the 1987 Fisheries Law of the Kingdom of were traditionally the highest level of Cambodia. The Department of Fisheries organization. Imperfect governance (DoF) is responsible for the development practices impact negatively on the natural of fisheries policies, their application and resources themselves as well as on NRM enforcement. The present draft of a sub- processes that rely on engaging people decree of community fisheries develop- and institutions at various levels of ment puts strong emphasis on the role of management. DoF in facilitating community fisheries. Resource pressure The study area is located mainly within The massive loss of resin trees (and thus the Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area. loss of significant cash income) to logging The Forestry Administration is responsible has triggered a series of compensatory for managing the area and ensuring that it trends among the Punong, including more is used sustainably for the development intensified exploitation of resin and other and livelihoods of the local communities in non-timber forest products, increased the area. The Land Law (Articles 23-28 hunting activities, and expansion of cash and 138-141) gives local people the right crop cultivation and wage labor. to live in the area. In addition, the Punong engage increasing- ly in illegal activities, such as logging, RECENT TRENDS hunting, and fishing with highly damaging This study was undertaken at a moment fishing gears. Throwing of grenades, elec- of crisis. Livelihoods of Punong people trofishing, fishing with very strong chemi- have been affected by external factors cal poisons (generally called "Anthrine") outside the control of their communities. and small stationary double wing bag- Two major reasons for this situation include nets made of mosquito netting ("du") are acculturation and resource pressure. used by Cham and Khmer, newcomers, Vietnamese poachers, and Punong people Acculturation themselves have begun experimenting State assertion of control over Punong with electric gears and "du". The result areas and in-migration of outsiders (partic- has been a further erosion of traditional ularly in O Am and Chnaeng) has translat- conservation practices. ed into disregard for their cultural values, mistreatment, decimation of wildlife and Illegal fishing activities are not limited to loss of resin trees and land, and subjection the study area but wide-spread across the to national laws that make little or no river basin. Even if people in the study consideration for their life style and needs area were to succeed in managing their for livelihoods. Punong people often fisheries in a sustainable way, fisheries express feelings of being treated as sec- could still be wiped out if down-stream ond class citizens by the mainstream fish stocks and habitats were destroyed. Khmer society. These effects have been With the absence of the Department of intensified by improved communication Fisheries in the province there is no and access to markets. External influ- government agency that has a clear ences, such as aggressive proselytizing by mandate and sufficient capacity to curb other faiths that do not relate to the ecol- illegal fishing. ogy of the forests as the Punong's tradi- tional beliefs have radically change the way Punong people look at their natural CONSEQUENCES FOR MANAGEMENT environment. Furthermore, the nationwide There is a gap between the Fisheries Law process of political and administrative and formal regulations that provide the decentralization (emphasizing strengthen- framework for fisheries management
5 throughout the country and the traditional to adapt to externalities. This would management mechanisms that have lead to innovation of pproaches to developed over centuries. And new cope with the new situation or new arrivals (immigrants and armed forces trends while preserving the alike) are competing directly with the origi- conservati onist philosophy of their nal residents for subsistence and commer- traditional use of natural resources, cial fishing. including fish. There could be positive spillover effects on in-migrants and The limited capacity of patrol teams to civil society. enforce the law, together with an increase in illegal fishing activities, contribute to an Scenario 2: Punong communities suc accelerating process of erosion of Punong cumb to external pressure and cultural values and their traditional fish- participate in the "race for the fish". eries management regime. The general As a consequence, their traditional weakness of governance of mainstream values and fisheries management society is felt more strongly by Punong vil- system disappear. Punong and other lagers since they have less experience and indigenous people would have to confidence in defending themselves than compete with outsiders, police, and do others. The capacity of Punong people to military. Their culture would gradually reinvigorate their cultural values and liveli- disappear. hood strategies will determine their ability to defend their ancestral land area and its Scenario 3: This scenario is midpoint resources from outsiders. between scenarios 1 and 2. The culture of indigenous people suffers from For the future, three possible scenarios of external influences and they participate development can be visualized: in the "race for the fish". Indigenous fishers adapt new fishing Scenario 1: Punong culture, their value practices while largely maintaining system and social cohesion are strong their traditional values. enough to survive and flexibleenough
6 RECOMMENDATIONS
n the base of the findings of the study, people from different areas to reach Oa number of preliminary recommenda- common understanding on traditional tions can be formulated: management systems. All efforts to facilitate sustainable X The Punong should be helped to resource management need to address document their traditional management the sphere of local governance, systems in a way that is useful to including rule of law, transparency and them and allows them to improve, accountability. Improving environmental adapt, and apply these systems to governance in the target area will also the changing conditions within their have to fully take into account the communities. idiosyncrasies of the Punong and ther X Participatory action research should indigenous people. be conducted on Punong traditional natural resource management Efforts must be made to understand systems regarding fish and other and reaffirm surviving traditional resources. management and knowledge systems, X Punong communities should be eventually to be adapted, included in, assisted in mapping fishing rounds, and applied to locally developed and spiritsites, and important resource community-based management within areas, in particular deep pools. individ ual communities, over larger X The use of natural poisons should areas, or in the entire river basin. be reaffirmed as an environmentally Local government and line agencies sound fishing practice. should be assisted in improving their X Official acknowledgement of the understanding and consideration of right of the Punong to manage their the Punong people, their culture, and fisheries according to traditional traditions, in order to strengthen systems and to exclude others Punong cultural identity and traditional should be sought. authorities. The government (local and X Punong communities should be central) needs to accept the legitimacy helped to protect their land from of indigenous peoples' rights to their land-grabbing and title their traditional ancestral lands, their traditional system lands (including fishing grounds), of management and their social and focusing attention on traditional cultural institutions. Specifically: village units instead of administrative X Participatory research should be villages where they are different. conducted on Punong cultural institutions and traditional authorities. A rights-based approach to resource X The use of Punong language shouldbe management should be implemented promoted, through audio-visual to guide develop ment agendas. materials in the Punong language Community consultation should be and providing opportunities for WCS obligatory for all development projects staff to learn the language. that could impact negatively on X Traditional village authorities indigenous communities, and should be reinforced by supporting self-determination of indigenous intergenerational learning. peoples should be promoted. X The negative effects of external influences that can destroy the Bottom-up approaches to NRM should Punong's cultural identity (including be explored. Due recognition should external religious groups) should be given to local management institu- be monitored and minimised. tions and they should play a central X Meetings should be organized for role in management planning. 7 esckþIsegçb
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CamYynwg rwgbwugnUvRkumRbwkSaXMu¦ eTIb)andwknaMeTArkkareFVImCÄ GvtþmanénnaykdæanClplkñúgextþminmanPñak;garrdæa karEdlmankarekIneLIgenAkñúgshKmn_CnCatiPñg Pi)al EdlmanGNtþic,as;las;mYy nigsmtßPaB kEnøgsMrab;PUmiEdlmaneKalbMNgeRcInCageKmankMrit RKb;RKan;edIm,ITb;sáat;karensaTxusc,ab;. erobcMx 13 CagTegVIrbs;GñkdéT. smtßPaBrbs;CnCatiPñgcMeBaH kareFVI[rwgmaMeLIgvijnUvtMélénvb,Fm’ nigyuTæsaRsþ kñúgkarRbkbrbrciBa©wmCIvitrbs;BYkeK nigkMNt;nUvlTæ PaBrbs;BYkeKkñúgkarkarBartMbn;dIbuBVbursrbs;BYkeK nigFnFanrbs;vaBIGñkmkBIxageRkA. sMrab;éf¶GnaKt sinNarIyU: 3 énkarGPiDÆn_EdlGac eFVIeTA)an GacRtUv)aneKKiteXIjfa³ sinNarIyU:TI1³ vb,Fm’rbs;CnCatiPñgkMlaMgs¥itCab; CasgÁm nigRbB½nætMélrbs;BYkeKmankMlaMgRKb;RKan; edIm,Irs; nigGacbt;Ebn)anRKb;RKan;edIm,IbnSaMeTAnwg sßanPaBxageRkA. RbkarenHnwgdwknaMeTArkkarEkERb EdlQancUldl;karRbmUlplCamYynwgsßanPaBfµI² b¤ ninñakarfµI²kñúgxN³EdlkarEfrkSaGñkGPirkSénTsSn³ RbéBNIrbs;BYkeKEdleRbIR)as;FnFanFmµCati rYmman RtI. GacmanCaviC¢mannUvRbsiTæiiPaBsayPayeTAelI GenþaRbevsn_ nigsgÁmsIuvil. sinNarIyU:TI2³ shKmn_CnCatiPñgsuxcitþcaj;cMeBaHsM BaFmkBIxageRkA nigcUlrYmeTAkñúg {karRbNaMgRbECgkñúg karcab;RtI}. edayCaplvi)akRbB½n§énkarRKb;RKgCl pl nigtMélRbéBNIrbs;BYkeK)anlic)at;. CnCatiPñg nigCnCatiPaKticepSgeTotnwgRtUvEt RbkYtRbECgCamYyGñkmkBIxageRkA b:UlIs nigTahan. vb,Fm’rbs;BYkeKnwglic)at;CalMdab;. sinNarIyU:TI3³ sinNariy:UenHKWCacMNuckNþalrvagBI sinNarIyU:TI1 nigTI2. vb,Fm’énCnCatiedImTTYl esckþIvinasBI\T§iBlxageRkA ehIyBYkeK)ancUlrYm eTAkñúg {karRbNaMgRbECgkñúgkarcab;RtI}. GñkensaT CnCatiedIm yklMnaMtamkarensaTCalkçN³fµI² enA eBlEdlmankarEfrkSaya:gTUlaynUvtMélRbéBNI rbs;BYkeK. 14 Gnusasn_ Ep¥keTAelIkarrkeXIjénkarsikSarUbmnþdMbUgén nUvkarbeRgonCMnan;eRkay . Gnusasn_rYmman³ -kareFVIGnþraKmn_BIxageRkAEdlGacbMpøajkar ral;karxitxMRbwgERbgedIm,IsRmbsRmYlkar kMNt;vb,Fm’CnCatiPñg ¬CaBiessebskkmµrbs;Gñk RKb;RKgFnFan[mannirnþrPaB TamTarbBa¢ak;nUvkar kan;sasnaRKisþ¦KYrRtUvrkSaeGay)aneCaKC½y. karRb RKb;RKgenAkñúgtMbn;énkEnøgEdlmanskmµPaBrYmman CMuKYrRtUv)anerobcMsMrab;RbCaCnmkBItMbn;xus²KñaeGay vin½yénc,ab;epSg² tmøaPaB nigPaBEdlGacTTYl Qandl;karyl;dwgCaFmµtaeTAelIRbB½næénkarRKb;RKg xusRtUv)an. edayeFVIeGayRbesIreLIgnUvkarRKb;RKg RbéBNI. brisßankñúgtMbn;eKaledAEdlnwgRtUvEtdak;eGayeBj -CnCatiPñgKYrRtUv)anCYy edIm,IerobcMCaÉksarnUv eljeTAkñúgbBa¢IlkçN³Biessrbs;CnCatiPñg nigCn RbB½næénkarRKb;RKgRbéBNIrbs;BYkeK kñúgmeFüa)ay CatiedImPaKticepSg² eTotpgEdr. mYyEdlRbkbedaykareRbIR)as;cMeBaHBYkeK nigGnuBaØati karxitxMRbwgERbgTaMgenHRtUv)aneKeFVIeLIg eGayBYkeKedIm,IeFVIeGayRbesIreLIg sRmbsRmYl nig edIm,IEsVgyl; nigGHGagsarCafµInUvkarRKb;RKgRbéBNI GnuvtþRbB½næTaMgenHcMeBaHlkçxNÐpøas;bþÚrEdlmanenA EdlbnSl;Tuk nigRbB½næcMeNHdwgCayfaehtuedIm,I kñúgshKmn_rbs;BYkeK. sRmbsRmYleTAkñúg nig)anGnuvtþcMeBaHkarGPivDÆn_kñúg -karcUlrYmskmµPaBRsavRCav KYrRtUv)aneFVIeTA Rsuk nigkarRKb;RKgmUldæanshKmn_EdlmanenAkñúg elIRbB½næénkarRKb;RKgFnFanFmµCatiEdlmanlkçN³ shKmn_nImYy²enAelItMbn;d¾TUlayCagenH b¤ enAkñúg CaRbéBNIrbs;CnCatiPñgeyageTAelIRtI nigFn GagénGUrTaMgRsug. rdæGMNacenAkñúgRsuk nigPñak;gar FanepSg²eTot . RKb;Can;fñak; KYrEtRtUv)anCYykñúgkareFVIeGayRbesIr -shKmn_CnCatiPñgKYrRtUv)anCYyenAkñúgkareFVI eLIgnUvkaryl;dwg nigkarBicarNarbs;CnCatiPñg EpnTIEdnensaT EpnTItMbn;GarkSGñkta nigEpnTItMbn; vb,Fm’ nigRbéBNIrbs;BYkeK edIm,IBRgIknUvkarkMNt; FnFansMxan;² CaBiessEpnTIGnøg;eRCA² . vb,Fm’ nigGaCJaFr RbéBNIrbs;CnCatiPñg. rdæGMNac -kareRbIR)as;énkarbMBuledaysMbkeQIKYrEtRtUv ¬fñak;tMbn; nigfñak;Cati¦ RtUvTTYlsÁal;nUvPaBRsbc,ab; )anGHGagfaCakarensaTEdlmann½ycMeBaHbrisßanmYy. énsiTæirbs;CnCatiedImPaKticcMeBaHdIbuBVbursrbs;BYk -cMeNHdwgCapøÚvkarénsiTæirbs;CnCatiPñgedIm,I eKkarRKb;RKgRbB½næRbéBNIrbs;BYkeK nigsßab½nvb, RKb;RKgClplrbs;BYkeKedayeyageTAelIRbB½næ Fm’ nigsgÁmrbs;BYkeK. edaykMNt;Cak;lak;cMeBaH ³ RbéBNI nigminrab;bBa©ÚlnUvGVIepSgeTotEdlRtUvEsVgrk. -karcUlrYmRsavRCavKYrEtRtUv)aneFVIenAelIsßab½n -shKmn_CnCatiPñgKYrRtUv)anCYykarBardIrbs; RbéBNI nigGaCJaFrRbéBNIrbs;CnCatiPñg BYkeKBIkardeNþImykdI nigkardak;eQµaHdIEdlman -kareRbIR)as;;PasaPñgKYrRtUv)anelIktMekIgtam lkçN³CaRbéBNIrbs;BYkeK ¬rYmmanEdnensaT¦ ry³sMPar³esatTsSn_enAkñúgPasaPñgnigkarpþl;nUv»kas edayepþateTAelIkarRbugsµartIcMeBaHÉktaPUmi RbéBNI sMrab;mRnþIsmaKmGPirkSstVéRBedIm,IeronPasaenH. CMnYsedayPUmirdæ)alCakEnøgEdlBYkeKsßitenAxus²Kña. -GaCJaFrRbéBNIKYrEtRtUv)anBRgwgeday]btßmÖ 15 dMeNaHRsaymUldæansiTæicMeBaHkarRKb;RKg FnFan KYrRtUv)aneFVIedIm,I dwknaMeTArkkarrebobvir³ GPivDÆn_. karBieRKaHeyabl;rbs;shKmn_KYrEtCa katBVkic©sMrab;RKb;KMeragGPivDÆn_ EdlGacb:HBal;Ca GviC¢maneTAelIshKmn_CnCatiedImPaKtic nigkarebþCaJ edaypÞal;rbs;BYkeKKYrRtUv)anelIktMekIg . dMeNaHRsaycMeBaHkarRKb;RKgFnFanFmµ CatiKYrRtUv)anrukrk. edayehtuEtkarTTYlsÁal;KYrRtUv )anpþl;cMeBaHsßab½nRKb;RKgkñúgtMbn; nigBYkeKKYredIr tYnaTIkNaþalkñúgKMeragénkarRKb;RKg . 16 1INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND Recent studies on livelihoods and natural The Southern Mondulkiri Biodiversity resource management (NRM) indicate that Conservation Project (SBCP), in Eastern local people strongly depend on fish for Cambodia, is jointly implemented by the food security, as the main source of ani- Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and mal protein (exceeding by a large amount the Forestry Administration (FA) and operat- the animal protein derived from wildlife or ed under the overall management of the husbandry) and an important source of 2 Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and cash income . Fishery (MAFF). It is in an upland forested During the last few years fish resources area of over 300,000 ha along the interna- have come increasingly under pressure tional border with Viet Nam and has been and drastic declines in fish catches are in place since 2000. The project area is reported (Richardson 2003, Huol 2004). located within a vast, recently A variety of causes are suggested for this suspended,commercial logging concession, trend, including intensified use of illegal and is of exceptional international impor- and environmentally unsound fishing gears tance for biodiversity conservation. and encroachment of outsiders into tradi- tional fishing grounds and forest lands of The overall aim of the Project is to pro- Punong villages. A continued loss of fish- mote suitable land-use systems that allow eries resources could increase the pressure for effective conservation of wildlife and on other resources which are equally vital key resources. Thus, much of the work of for the livelihoods of the Punong people. the project focuses on helping the Punong1 communities to explore land-use patterns and livelihood strategies that allow for sustainable social and economic reproduc- 1.2 THE STUDY tion and, at the same time, for biodiversity In order to identify opportunities and conservation. strategies for the sustainable utilization of aquatic resources, an in-depth and holistic The Project implements a wide range of understanding of the ecological, social and practical conservation measures, the three political context of the fisheries is required. most notable being: To this end, the study on "Upland fishing and Indigenous Punong Fisheries Management law enforcement to prevent illegal in Southern Mondulkiri Province" was com- settling and overuse of resources by both missioned by WCS. The study focused on 3 villagers and outsiders, three administrative villages in the Southern a programme of participatory land- Mondulkiri Landscape Project: O Am, Kati use planning in Punong villages, and and Andong Kroloeng, which were subject a support programme of applied to previous interventions by WCS (see Table research, examining both human resource 1 & Maps 1 & 2). The study was conducted use and wildlife popu lation trends. by a team comprising field researchers, an 1or Pnong, however, it is considered that the word Punong is closest to the peoples' self-denomination. 2Richardson 2003, Evans et al. 2003, Huol 2004, Walston 2004 3Throughout the document a distinction is made between "administrative villages" and "Punong village". The composition of an administrative village is result of an external decision of Cambodian public administration and commonly consists of various sectors (krom). Andong Kroloeng administrative village, for example, consists of 6 kroms; each krom is a Punong village with its distinctive name (self-denomination), history, boundaries, traditional resource use rights, and relationships to neighboring Punong villages. O Am is the biggest administrative village and of relatively recent formation and intensive influx of migrants; as a consequence, inhabitants identify the location of their houses with the administrative number of krom, rather than by village name. 17 officer of the Inland Fisheries Research and social and ecological setting, Development Institute (IFReDI) of the practice of fishing operations, Department of Fisheries and a Punong lan- fisheries as part of natural guage translator4 . The study had a dura- resources management structures, tion of ten weeks, including 14 historical dimension, and person/weeks of field research from economic and social trends and August to October 2004 (during the "wet their implications for NRM. season"), and focused on the following issues: Map 1: Overall study area Table 1: Application of fishing gear census in study area Administrative Total population Punong village Total No. of No. of households % of households village (in sectors covered) or sector households censused censused Pu Poanh 12 9 75% Andong Pu Chu Loe+Kraom 32 32 100% Kroloeng 390 Pu Clair 5 5 100% Andong Kroloeng 12 12 100% Pu Rung 12 12 100% Kati 31 31 100% Kati 266 Daem Beng 5 5 100% O Tron 8 8 100% Sector No.4 13 12 92% O Am 547 Sector No.10 46 35 76% Sector No.11 24 21 87% Sector No.16 27 22 81% Total 1203 227 204 90% 4 Field researchers: Peter Degen and Peter Swift; fisheries officer: Chap Piseth; translator: Hang Mary 18 Map 2: Intensively studied area The study, in line with the overarching A further limitation was imposed by conduct- goal of WCS' intervention, follows the ing the research under the umbrella of overall objective of "sustainable fisheries WCS. Generally, people related the study management as part of an integrated natu- team to the conservationist approach of ral resource management scheme shared WCS and, were somehow hesitant to talk by resource users and supporting agencies about the actual use and exploitation of natural at various levels". Its immediate objective resources. In particular, it was nearly is to " provide an initial understanding of impossible to get information on hunting the role of fisheries in selected communi- practices and the traditional management ties in the landscape area that will allow of wildlife, which is thought to have com- for the integration of upland fisheries into monalities with fisheries management. natural resource management programmes Likewise, informants denied repeatedly at the village and landscape level". that their village is engaged in fishing operations with natural poisons5 . The study had to cope with some limitations, however the limited time frame compromised, to some extent, the comprehensiveness of 1.3 APPROACH AND METHODS geographical coverage and diversity of research tools employed. The field visits The study followed largely a qualitative were undertaken during the rainy season, approach. Complementary to empirical i.e. outside the main fishing season. Only social science instruments such as a few fishing activities could be observed semi-structured interviews of randomly on the spot and the collection of primary and/or purposely selected individuals or information was based mainly on inter- groups, a variety of participatory tools views. were used. Meetings and interviews were geared to generate information, but also to 5 Partly, this answer was correct in the sense that during the rainy season people do not use natural poisoning to catch fish. 19 assess/enhance the villagers' willingness to actively engage in fishing practices that are environmentally sound and economi- cally and socially beneficial in the long term. Participatory tools comprised mapping exercises of fishing grounds, spirit places and significant landmarks, drawing exer- cises of fishing gears, walks to and visit of fishing grounds, and the provisional identification of fish species with the help of a fish flipchart6, used with key fishers in Kati and Andong Kroloeng administra- tive villages. A standard form was used to conduct a census on the main fishing gears and their operation, and selling and buying of fish products. Due to absence (people left for field work) some households7 could not be censused. The standard form did not include any illegal fishing gear in order to reduce the risks of social desirability response and reactive answers. Information on illegal fishing gears and historical accounts of gear use were gathered through interviews with key informants. Complementary to this, a survey of fish migrations and fishing operations was conducted, using transects and semistruc- tured interviews with key persons, in villages along the middle and lower reaches of the Chhlong river. 6 The fish flipchart used in the field was an adjusted version from the MRC fisheries programme in Cambodia. The flipchart comprises 272 photos of different fish species. However, the instrument seems to be biased towards floodplain fisheries, many fish species documented in the flipchart were unknown to the Punong people and some of the fish they commonly catch are not documented in the flipchart. 7 The term household is used here as an income pooling group, comprising all people living under the same roof and sharing one fire place and the meals. Occasionally, one household can comprise 2 nuclear families and additional members, such as elders, other relatives and/or friends. 20 Ecological and 2biological Features 2.1 PHYSICAL SETTING 1. Mekong "chong toek"11: Back-up water River habitats are dynamic and subject to from Mekong River reaching up to and local and regional weather patterns as well oscillating around Boeng Kiep according as land use patterns associated with the to the seasonal increase and recession river basin. Often, habitats are intermittent of water levels of the Mekong river. and continuously changing, which makes During rising floods the water currents it difficult to delimit them. The river and nearly come to a standstill, occasionally catchment morphology changes from dry reversing flow direction. No major deep season to wet season, and with it fish pools are reported from this section, populations (Kottelat, n.y. [1998]). supposedly because slow water currents at certain times of the year The study area is part of the Chhlong river allow for siltation. ecosystem8. The source of the Chhlong 2. Lower Chhlong basin: The stretch river is in the uplands of O Rang district between Boeng Kiep and the conflu (at approx. 460 mASL9) between the ence where the O Porr river enters the Punong villages of Pu Poanh and Pu Chu Chhlong is characterized by a width Loe. Its headwaters drain the southern of up to 150 meters, a relatively slopes of the Sen Monorom Plateau, also deep waterbed and a large number of called the Chhlong Plateau (Wharton deep pools. This section continues up 1966, cited in Walston et al. 2001), at a the O Porr river to Peam Rang, where distance of around 8 km from the the O Rang river enters the O Porr. Vietnamese border. In this stretch there are the deepest pools of the whole river, some with a Apart from the Chhlong river, two other depth of more than 12 meters. important river basins originate in the Sen 3. Middle reaches: This section starts at Monorom Plateau, namely the Te river and the O Pórr river mouth. In the O Pórr smaller tributaries of the Srepok river. The river itself this section starts around Srepok river basin dominates the northern 15 km further up-stream at the mouth part of Mondulkiri province. of O Rang river, at Peam Rang and extends up to the waterfalls. Between The conjunction of three tiny creeks, gath- its mouth and Peam Rang the O Pórr ering rain water only during the rainy sea- river is narrower than the Chhlong son east of Pu Chu Loe, marks the source river and, more importantly, deeper. of the Chhlong river. On its more than Despite the continued presence of 200 km long way down-stream, the deep pools from the mouth of O Pórr Chhlong waters are nurtured by a series of the average riverbed of O Chhlong tributaries10 of different sizes, with some becomes shallower from here up-stream. of the smaller creeks drying out complete- Thus the shallower water depth acts ly during dry season. as a natural barrier for certain fishes on their up-migration. Physiographically, the Chhlong river can 4. Head waters: The upper stretches of be divided into the following four sections the rivers start with the waterfalls, (Table 24 & Figure 1): which constitute another barrier for 8 Large rivers have received much more attentions than smaller rivers. Most of the biological and ecological studies about river systems in Cambodia deal with the Mekong river and Tonle Sap river and Great Lake and treat their tributaries very cursorily, at best (Poulsen et al. 2002 (a), Poulsen et al. 2002 (b), Van Zalinge 2000, Valbo-Jorgensen & Poulsen 2000, Vannaren & Kin 2000, Coates 2003). Only a few short and general descriptions of Mekong tributaries, other than the Tonle Sap, give a vague glimpse into the functioning and the importance of these smaller river systems (Sam 1999, Jensen 2000, Fisheries Office Rattanakiri 2000). 9 Meters above sea level 10 [in down-stream order] O Ngeun, O Mahoach, O Pam, O Pórr (also called O Pao by villagers in Snuol district), O Mil, Preik Chreymeang, Preik Pláh, Stoeung Strae Char, Stoeung Krasaing, Stoeung Samleng, Preik Chriv, Preik Choeu Kleoum, Preik Anlung Thom and Preik Choa. 11 "chong toek" means back-up water. 21 fish migration of a series of fish form connecting channels between species. The headwaters are very shal more or less deeper pools and small low in the dry season and frequently retention basins. Table 2: Major Streams in the Chhlong river basin and the study area MainStream Tributary to Tributary to Tributary to O Chhlong O Ngeun O R'wai O Chengchri O Choeung Mahánh O Choeung Mahaoch O Ronáh O Romanh O Mleng O Bro: O Mahaoch O Khnong O Rolo:k O Péab O Pé:l O Tron O Pórr O Kameng O Rona O Rang O Kao O Pam O Am O Chnaeng O Phláh O Phlaeng O Phláh Andong O Trayoung O Huot O Kerr O Dach Legend: Streams in study area Mostly, the streams in the Chhlong river bution of precipitation regionally, both basin flow through relatively intact forests within and between years. In particular, resulting in a low silt load and clear and first and second order streams12 may rap- transparent water during the dry season. idly increase their water level with a single The lower O Pórr river, for example, flows rain shower (Figure 2). Small streams in through primary forest and big trees pro- the upper reaches change appearance fre- viding a shady and cool atmosphere. quently, between shallow creeks, often However, the forests are under intense with small oxbow pools, and fast flowing pressure and accelerated logging is streams, according to the actual rainfalls. increasing soil erosion and silt loads, and, The roots of the forest vegetation largely thus, turbidity of the river waters. prevent surface run-off effects that could result in flash floods and intense sedimen- Rains can vary considerably as can distri- tation after tropical rain showers. 12 Geomorphologists distinguish streams by order: at its source, any stream is of 1st order; when two 1st order streams meet, they form a 2nd order stream; when two 2nd order streams meet, they form a 3rd order stream, etc (Kottelat n.y. [1998]) 22 Figure 1: Basic physiography of Chhlong river basin Mekong ….mASL 460 mASL > 200 km From August to October most rivers con- The target villages of the present study nect to neighboring ponds, swamps and are located partly within the upper part of wetlands which then form part of local the middle reaches and the head waters of floodplains; important spawning and nurs- the O Chhlong river and its tributaries. In ing grounds for many fish species. this area there are many creeks all of Changes in water levels also determine the which have names in Punong language, existence of other river habitats, such as evidencing important landmarks. Likewise, rapids, which appear and disappear as the all waterfalls and important deep pools are water level drops or increases. given specific names, since most of them are also attractive fishing grounds. Figure 2: Scheme of water level variations in different reaches of the Chhlong river basin Reaches of Relative Seasonal variations of water level Chlong river discharge “small dry season” in UPPER June/July MIDDLE LOWER MEKONG Months (starting in April) A M J J A S O N D J F M 23 2.2 FISH FAUNA AND BIODIVERSITY rather than the species itself. In other More than 1200 species of fish, possibly instances, Punong (as do Khmer people) as many as 170013 , are estimated to have a different name for the same occur in the Mekong river basin. In species at different times in its life cycle. Cambodia alone, far more than 500 Virtually all fish are reported to carry eggs species are thought to exist14. Around during the rainy season and are presumed 100 species are used commercially. to spawn in the study area. With the help of a fish flipchart, people from Pupoanh, The occurrence or absence of fish within Andong Kroloeng and Pu Rung villages, the Chhlong river basin depends on the located in the headwaters of Chhlong seasonal flooding cycle, physiographic river, identified more than 90 fish species. conditions of the riverbed and its alternat- Some fishes were named which were not ing water currents, and the ecological shown in the flipchart. Annex 1 shows the requirements of the fish fauna in general. large variety of fish species in the head- 17 The four distinct sections of the river, waters. Snails, turtles , frogs, crabs, described above, also influence the sea- small shrimps, snakes and water monitors sonal migratory behavior of the fishes, in are also part of the local diet. The cap- particular of the "white fish"15 species. ture of frogs does play, at least seasonal- Each section seems to "trigger" specific ly, an important role in the provision of behaviors in different species and/or fish animal protein (see Annex 3). Crocodiles size groups. In general, larger fish speci- have been reported to be seen in some mens are only found in the lower and mid- deep pools along the Chhlong river basin 18 dle reaches of the river basin. (see Annex 7) . This dependence on a wide range of vital habitats at different times in their lifecycle 2.3 SEASONALITY AND FISH MIGRA- makes long-distance migratory fish very TIONS vulnerable to environmental disturbances The dry season, from November to April, and habitat alterations. The status of fish and rainy season, from early May to stocks and fish availability encountered in October, condition water availability in the Chhlong river basin may therefore depend rivers and mark the rhythm of fishing sea- on changes and interventions in habitats sons and gear use patterns. The seasonal distant from the study area. flood-pulse "drives" the fisheries system In the study area a large variety of living by increasing the water volume in the aquatic resources are utilized, with fish, rivers and inundating vast areas of flood- crustaceans, amphibians and reptiles being plains and re-connecting swamps, ponds the most important. Punong people classi- and lakes to the river channels. fy fish into two basic categories: "meat Floodplains are highly productive feeding 16 fish" and "scaly fish" . Most of the fish and nursing habitats for the vast majority species reported in the case study area of important commercial fishes, while the belong to the category of "scaly fish". rivers and streams host critical refuge habitats when waters recede (Welcomme Some fish names in Punong language 1979, Dudgeon 2000, Poulsen et al. specify the locally defined "species family" 2002)19. 13 Coates et al. 2003 14 Rainboth 1996 15 "White fish" species are scaly fish species and mostly longitudinal migrants. 16 "Meat fish" is also called "round fish" or "black fish" and comprise snakehead fish, catfish, goby and others. This type of fish is more localized and do not undertake long-distance migrations as do "scaly fish", or "white fish". "Meat fish" has more meat than the "scaly fish". 17 Fishers in the study area also identified a considerable variety of turtles, i.e. Batagur baska, Callagur borneoensis, Cuora amboinensis, Cuora trifasciata, Cyclemys dentata complex, Geoemyda spengleri, Heosemys grandis, Hieremys annandalii, Notochelys platynota, Indotestudo elongate, Trachemys scropta elegans, Manouria emys, Amyda cartilaginea. (Refer to Annex 1. However, some of these species are highly improbable (pers. comm. Tom D. Evans) 18 The real existence of crocodiles in the study area would require proper field truthing. From the accounts obtained it is not always sure if they are historical, mythological or based on recent observations. 19 Poulsen et al. 2002 refer to the river channels and its associated deep pools as important dry season habitats. However, deep pools in tributaries, such as Chhlong river, serve also as general refuge places during the rainy season when fish migrate into the upper reaches for feeding and spawning. 24 Fish migrate for spawning, nursing, feed- Chhlong river. During the rainy season, ing, growing and shelter. The timing of with stronger rains around July, fish migrations is conditioned by the water migrate up-stream again penetrating into levels and the availability of abundance of the headwaters of mainstream and tribu- feed, mainly from the floodplains (Dudgeon taries and entering the flood plains con- 2000). In this way the Chhlong river and nected to the river system20 . its tributaries are functionally linked to the Mekong River and its associated flood- Most breeders come from the Mekong plains, including the Tonle Sap Great Lake River. The more important taxa among floodplains. In general, long-distance migra- them are trey kéh (Micronema bleekeri, M. tory fish spawn in upland rivers during the apogon, M. micronema), trey chhlang rainy season, their eggs drift down from (Mystus nemurus), trey kahae (Barbodes the headwaters and the juveniles grow on spp.), trey chrakaing (Puntioplites spp.), their way to their nursery and feeding trey chhpén (Hypsibarbus spp.) trey Chviet grounds in the floodplains. When the water (Pangasius spp.), trey kolreang recedes from the floodplains they escape (Catlocarpio siamensis), trey riel into deeper waters into the rivers. Most (Henicorhynchus spp.) and trey slak russey fishes are adapted to cope with periods of (Paralaubuca spp.), among others. resource scarcity in the dry season and abundant feed intake during the rainy sea- Other fish species, such as trey sanday son (Dudgeon 2000). (Wallago attu) and trey pruol (Cirrhinus microlepis) migrate from deep pools in the Thus, different types of migrations can be lower Chhlong basin, where they stay dur- identified, such as eggs and larvae drift ing the dry season until they return later in (as a very particular form of "involuntary the rainy season to the lower Chhlong migration"), nursing (feeding) migration, again. "escape" and refuge migration, and spawn- ing migration. During these lifecycle migra- Migration up to Peam O Pórr tions, whitefish species in particular use a Trey kéh and trey klanghai broad range of different habitats (Poulsen (Belodontichthys dinema) are reported to et al. 2004). The stimuli or "triggers" of migrate up only as far as the mouth of the these migrations are still little understood, O Pórr river. Other big fish species migrate however (Roberts 1993). only as far up-stream as the mouth of O Reang stream, such as trey sanday, trey Up-migration (May/June - July) khya, trey stuok, and young trey kolreang. "White fish" and "black fish" have differ- These fishes are also very frequent in O ent migratory behaviors. The former are Pláh, one of the down-stream tributaries generally known for undertaking long-dis- to the Chhlong river. Trey ta'aun (Ompok tance migrations while the latter are more sp.cf. eugeneiatus), trey sambo srolao and localized and only undertakes lateral trey kaháe (Barbodes altus) are found migrations between the floodplains to the throughout the middle reaches of the river river channel and/or recession ponds. basin. In general terms fish migrate upstream Waterfalls demarcate drastic changes in twice. In late April/May an initial short elevation contours at the beginning of the period upstream migration starts with the headwaters and constitute natural filters early rainy season. They migrate as far up- for fish migrations. Usually, deep pools at stream as water levels allow. Commonly, the down-stream side are integral parts of in June/ July a so-called "small dry sea- waterfalls. It is here where upmigrating son" takes place and fish from the upper fish congregate temporarily. Many migra- reaches (headwaters) seek refuge in deep tory species will only reach the lowest pools in the middle and lower reaches of waterfall. Trey kchhoeung (Macrognathus 20 In the Mekong mainstream also two migrations have been reported for 5 economically important fish species, namely Thynnichthys thynnoid, Pangasius conchophilus, Botia modesta, Dangila spp. and Pangasius pleurotaenia, by Heng (2002). 25 spp.), trey tanel (Mystus filamentus), trey areas21. Trey riel also spawns in ponds andaing (Clarias spp.) and some other cat- close to the Chhlong river. Trey pra, trey fishes and other species cannot "climb" pruol (Cirrhinus microlepis) and trey kolre- across waterfalls. ang are among the first to spawn (in May/June). These three fish species However, a number of species are report- spawn in deep pools in the lower reaches ed to overcome sizable waterfalls (8-10 m, of the river. Later in June all other fish high), often broken up into cascades, and spawn. continue migrating into the headwaters. Among these fishes are trey riel, trey Down-migration (September - November) krum (Osteochilus melanopleurus), trey Most fish leaving the Chhlong river basin chpén (Hypsibarbus spp.), trey sambó sro- re-enter the Mekong river during down- lao, trey romeas (Osphronemus exodon) migration. However, there are some taxa and most of the other species listed in that stay in deep pools in the lower reach- Table 2 (Annex 1 Fish in the headwaters). es of the Chhlong river. Among these fish are trey sanday (Wallago attu), trey kch- Basin-internal "migrations" hoeung (Macrognathus spp.), trey stuok As seen in Figure 2, water levels in the (Wallago leeri), trey ksán (Glossogobius Chhlong river basin become more unstable spp.), trey róh (Channa spp.) and trey the higher the riverbed is located within andaing. the basin. According to rainfalls and water depth, fish also undertake a sort of oscil- Nearly all fish found in the headwaters lating migration between flooded areas spawn there around June. Big fish species and close-by deep pools when waters are seem to stay quite a short period within low; or they return to the flooded areas the river basin as they are the first to with new rains (lateral migrations). migrate down-stream22. Trey stuok Likewise, fish will also migrate between (Wallago leeri), trey khya (Mystus wyck- different deep pools along the riverbed ioides) and trey sanday (Wallago attu) and (short longitudinal migrations). Local fish- only the bigger specimens of those ers relate these migrations to the needs of species, migrate down already in August. fish for feeding, refuge and spawning. Also trey kéh and trey klanghai Towards the end of the rainy season, (Belodontichthys dinema) leave the when the rains fade out, fish move fre- Chhlong river in September. Smaller speci- quently upstream and downstream mens of these fishes commonly stay between the deep pools in the main longer time in the river basin and will riverbed. down-migrate with other fish species, starting later in September. In October / Spawning November, kae kdek, when the first fresh All fish species found in the headwaters of winds appear and temperatures become Chhlong river supposedly also spawn here. cooler, down-migrations involve all other Mainly, spawning occurs in its temporarily longitudinal migrants. inundated wetlands and other quiet river 21 Fishers interviewed reported that during spawning migration all fish emit mating sounds. In May/June while diving they say that they can hear the fish "crying". Each fish species has its distinct sound. Trey chhlang (Mystus nemerus) is the only fish whose sound can be distinguished clearly because when caught it still keeps on "crying" on land. Other fish don't continue their mating sound once they are caught. Fishermen also claim to be able to hear the sound of the fish when they enter the floodplains once connected to the main river channels. 22 As evidenced in the catches of the dai fisheries in the Tonle Sap river in October and November, here also big fish specimens migrate first out of the Tonle Sap floodplains (Van Zalinge et al. 2000). 26 3 PEOPLE 3.1 History23 the Hoh Chi Minh trail resulted in the grad- The Punong and other indigenous people, ual retreat of Viet Cong fighters in the like Stieng and R'ong, have been dwelling early 1970s. Numerous bomb craters in the study area and adjacent forests around the villages and in the forests still since time immemorial. Until recently they give testimony of these war activities, were separated from mainstream Khmer including two wrecks of crashed American society. warplanes. Andong Kroloeng was most heavily affected by the bombing, including During the times of the French Protectorate with napalm. The whole village was burnt colonial officers made the first attempts to down, rice fields obliterated and all live- integrate Punong people into the (colonial) stock was killed. Before the air raid, vil- society. Men were taken into the armed lagers were warned by Viet Cong soldiers forces and both male and female villagers about the up-coming American attack and were engaged in compulsory work in road just managed to escape. From 1970 construction and rubber plantations, with onwards, Lon Nol soldiers raided villages men being rewarded with official ID cards. and introduced a militia system by which Under Sankum Reastr Niyum24, Government every village was to be controlled by four Punong soldiers of the colonial armed forces to five militias. were integrated into the national armed forces. Attempts were made to relocate As Lon Nol's soldiers were not able to dispersed settlements into more compact contain the Viet Cong, American ground villages along the main road to Mondulkiri 25. troops also entered the area. Military camps of American soldiers and CIA During the 1970s all villages in the study agents in Kati and Andong Kroloeng were area were exposed, successively, to Viet installed for three months and 2 weeks, 26 Cong fighters, Lon Nol soldiers and American respectively . American soldiers provided armed forces and CIA operatives. health care to local people, including tablets to treat malaria and air lifts in case Viet Cong soldiers incurred into Mondulkiri of serious wounding. They also distributed highlands in 1967/1968. They maintained sweets, chewing gum, cookies, cigarettes, a relationship of reciprocity with indige- fruits, etc. as gifts. Punong people were nous villages in the area, exchanging meat instructed to wear their traditional clothing from wild animals killed in the forests for and appear in the open village areas as rice from Punong people. The soldiers also soon as they heard a warplane from dis- bought chickens and pigs from them. Also tance and greet the up-coming bombers. Viet Cong soldiers provided basic health- care to local people. The soldiers heavily Villagers did not get actively involved in impacted on local wildlife stocks, including fighting nor were attempts of recruitment fish, using guns and grenades. Wild ele- undertaken from either side. In Kati, vil- phants and other large mammals were lagers from (nowadays) Sre Ampil were seriously decimated. employed as camp staff for minor mainte- nance jobs. The bombing, by American warplanes, of 23 Only a short summary of the recent history since independence is given here. Guérin (2003) provides a detailed account of Punong history from 1859 to 1940. 24 Also referred to as "Sihanouk times", starting after national independence until 1970. 25 In fact, all target villages of this study are located along the old French road to Mondulkiri. Only Pu Rung, as part of Pu Clair sector is distant from the road and more difficult to reach. 26 These former camps are used today as scrap metal mines by villagers. 27 In 1973 Khmer Rouge (KR) cadres of these new creations starting up as tem- appeared in the area and started to control porary militia posts of the district. village life. Communal field work, commu- In the late 1980s and early 1990s whole nal food intake and prohibition of sacrific- families started to return to their former ing to their spirits, among other rules, villages and to militia posts where they became the order of the day. As a conse- had relatives. By 1992, at the arrival of quence, many Punong people from the UNTAC most of the villages seemed to be area escaped to neighboring Vietnam; only more or less "established", considering the a part of them returned afterwards. In mobility inherent in the common practice 1975 the KR removed all inhabitants of of shifting cultivation. the villages in the study area from their settlements and resettled them in Koh In 1998 the remaining KR troops were Nhek27 district, Northern Mondulkiri. There officially reintegrated into the Royal Armed they were instructed in paddy rice farming Forces of Cambodia and into civil society. and forced to dig canals and build irriga- Eighty soldiers, including two tion dikes. commanders29 were taken over into the provincial armed forces and land for settle- In 1979, when Vietnamese armed forces ment was provided to around 200 former moved in, they considered the people orig- KR soldiers and their families. The settle- inating from Keo Seima and the O Reang ments were located between O Am and area to be allies. The original inhabitants Chnaeng in midst of Snuol Wildlife of Koh Nhek, however, were regarded as Sanctuary, which had serious conse- KR sympathizers. Many of the former quences, environmentally and socially. were taken up into the military forces combating KR pockets still active in the area until the mid '90s. 3.2 DEMOGRAPHY The Punong are indigenous people. The return from Koh Nhek to their home- Together with other indigenous groups land villages took more than a decade and they represent around 70% of the popula- many villagers did not return to their origi- tion in the province. In general, they are nal villages28 before the early 1990s. referred to as hill tribes or "chunchiet", Some never returned to their original vil- meaning "ethnic people" or "nationals" by lages. Most of them left Koh Nhek their Khmer co-nationals. between 1980 and 1982 when they moved to the gold mining area around Punong people themselves distinguish at Memong. In 1988 people started to move least three major groups of Punong, identi- gradually back to the provincial town or to fied through their different dialects and the district towns in O Reang and Keo geographical distribution: (1) Northern Seima. District governments engaged Punong (Sen Monorom town to northeast many new arrivals in their militia forces in Mondulkiri), (2) Western Punong (Lower order to provide for security and claim Chhlong river and North of Kratie and (3) control over KR areas. Southern Punong (upper Chhlong river, also called [by "Western Punong"] Many old villages were not rebuilt in their "Punong Stieng"). The study area is inhab- original location, both, because of the con- ited by the latter group. tinued presence of KR cadres and the pre- vailing Government policies to resettle In contrast to the official boundaries of 30 new villages in response to KR presence. the three villages (of the study area) Villages like O Char and Sre Ampil are two delineated by the provincial public adminis- 27 The period is often referred to as "the three years regime" or "the middle regime." 28 or group of co-villagers and family members who had settled in a different place in the meantime. 29 One of the commanders was ethnic Lao, he died in 2002. He brought in 4 ethnic Lao soldiers who have settled in O Am since 1999. 30 The administrative village Andong Kroloeng comprises Pu Poanh, Pu Chu Loe, Pu Chu Kraom, Pu Clair, Andong Kroloeng and Pu Rung settlements. The administrative village Kati comprises the settlements Kati, Kati Thmei (or also called Daem Beng) and O Tron. Two of the surveyed sectors (10 and 11) of O Am are located in Labaké; the others (4 and 16) are located along the main road. 28 tration, two of them, namely Kati and The practice of natural resources use in Andong Kroloeng, are in fact composed of, Punong society is governed by the princi- respectively, three and six socially ple of sharing and avoidance of waste. It recognized Punong settlements. In general, is regarded as a sacrilege to kill an animal public administration refers to the different or fish and not eat it entirely. Likewise, settlements as "krom" or sector, apart from being a waste of physical ener- sometimes also including two small gy, it would be a sacrilege to clear forest settlements into one "krom". land and not use it afterwards. The administrative village of O Am differs Farming strongly from Kati and Andong Kroloeng. Punong people in the study area farm O Am, a major market place and point of upland rice in combination with a variety in-migration, is divided into 18 "kroms" of chamkar31 crops, such as maize, pump- with mostly Khmer families (>82%), kin, cucumber, beans, bananas, etc. In Pu some Stieng (6%) and Punong (8%) in Rung and O Am there are also paddy rice addition to four and five ethnic minority fields. For more details in Annex 2 a table Vietnamese and Lao families. of seasonality of sources of farmed foods and produce collected from the wild is Kati and Andong Kroloeng are largely provided. made up of ethnic Punong people. However, a few Khmer families have set- tled in these villages, often pursuing Resin collection business opportunities and/or intermarrying One of the most important livelihood with Punong. strategies is resin collection. Since the end of 1980s resin tapping became the most important source of cash income (Evans 2003). 3.3 NATURAL RESOURCE USE AND LIVELIHOODS Most of forests in the Chhlong river basin used to belong to Samling Logging 3.3.1 Forest and land use Concession from the Mekong River up to Punong traditional culture reflects their the Sen Monorom Plateau along the dependence on the forest. Their livelihood Vietnamese border. Logging operations in and coping strategies are based on a deep 1998 and 1999 extracted resin trees from ecological knowledge that allows them to many forest areas and, as a consequence, take advantage of native trees and plants, the income opportunities from resin tap- 32 animals, fish, rivers and land. They hunt, ping of indigenous Punong people raise buffaloes, cows, pigs, chicken and decreased. dogs, fish in rivers and ponds and collect a variety of other forest products for food, Despite the moratorium of logging opera- construction materials, fishing (fishing gear tions since 1999, unregulated, anarchic and fish poisons) and for medicinal pur- logging is continuing in a sort of "decen- poses. The forest provides substantially tralized manner" in the whole river basin. for food security, with a vast variety of In the lower reaches of the Chhlong river products available during the yearly cycle. basin whole villages seem to be involved At times when one crop is scarce, a sub- in illegal logging operations, driven by 33 stitute can often be found, for example, local government and armed forces . natural tubers may substitute when the rice stores are low. The people affected most by the loss of resin trees, mainly Punong indigenous peo- 31 Chamkar fields are garden fields intercropping up-land rice, a variety of vegetables, corn, fruit trees, etc. 32 Walston et al. 2001 ; Evans et al. 2003 33 In Srae Triek and Veal Konsaing, at the lower Chhlong river basin in Kratie, large parts of the village labor force was engaged in logging operations, as observed in October 2004. Commune chiefs, police and military personnel were reported to facilitate the operations on behalf of timber traders and sawmill operators in the district town. 29 ple, have started to cultivate cashew or ingly a commodity of trade. In O Am, with other cash crops on their fallow farmland, major market facilities, nine households instead of leaving it to recover as they (10% of censused households) from four used to do traditionally. Cashew growing sectors surveyed reported to sell fish is also popular among families not affect- (Figure 3). Throughout the year the aver- ed by resin-tree logging. age monthly amount of fish they sold was around 30 kg per household. This amount Hunting34 seems to be relatively high and it might be Hunting has always been an integral part explained by the use of illegal fishing of Punong livelihoods. Though it is legally gears, in particular electrocuting. At O Am forbidden, it is practiced in all villages. market also other fish products such as Locally, hunting is called "going out with dried marine fish from Viet Nam, live the dogs" indicating the main hunting snakeheads and walking catfish (Clarias method. Generally, dogs may track down spp.), both from cage culture in the smaller animals such as turtles, snakes, Mekong river, and a variety of fish paste water lizards and monitor lizards, which products and (Khmer) prahoc from then can be collected by the hunter. Big Kamong Cham and Kratie provinces are game hunting seems to be a rare event. sold. In Kati 9% of censused households sell fish and in Andong Kroloeng 6%. Small surpluses of catches are sold inside the vil- 3.3.2 Fisheries lage. These transactions occur parallel to still prevailing sharing mechanisms referred Fisheries and livelihoods to earlier. From Kati, markets are more dif- The importance of fishing and the collec- ficult to reach than from Andong tion of other aquatic animals is indicated Kroloeng, which might explain their low by the time people dedicate to this activi- amount of fish sold. ty, which is, reportedly, much more than the time spent hunting for terrestrial ani- The pattern of buying fish is similar to mals. Another indication is that the con- selling (Figure 4 to Figure 6). Decrease in sumption of domestic animals is largely fish availability correlates negatively to restricted to special occasions and sacri- market access. In O Am, households buy fices. considerably more fish than in the other two villages, including larger amounts of According to people interviewed the abun- fresh fish as well as a significant amount dance of fish has decreased, especially of dried and fermented fish. In Kati fish with respect to larger species. Quantified paste (prahoc) is nearly the only single fish information, i.e. on catch per unit effort product to spend money on. All other fish (CPUE) could not be compiled in the products are made locally, in particular course of the study and would require Punong fish paste, called "kaó:m". specific investigation. Several mobile fish sellers enter Andong Traditionally, fish was never sold, but shared. Kroloeng administrative village selling dif- Today, fish products are becoming increas- Average amount of fish sold per month by village Average monthly amount (kg) of fish products bought in O Am 276 N = 204 O Am Figure 4 9 N = 90 23.2 Kg 180.10 Prahoc Kati r 4 Figure 3 No. of households 232.30 Fermented Fish Dried Fish Andong 71 Fresh Fish Kraloeng 4 28.91 93.05 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 r 34 In general, it was difficult to obtain information on hunting activities, given that the informants perceived that any answer could be highly compromis- ing. Thus, it was not possible to establish commonalities or differences of management systems of wildlife and fish. 30 fishing by hand, scooping baskets Average monthly amount (kg) of fish produc ts bought in Andon g Kroloeng (chneang), covering and lifting gears, hook lines, gillnets, basket traps, small N = 70 Figure 5 barrage systems, pumping out of small 30.00 Prahoc water bodies, (Annex 3). Gillnets and 11.30 Fermented Fish hooks are the most frequent fishing gears. Dried Fish 2.60 By far, the most important fishing method Fresh Fish 108.60 in Punong villages has been, traditionally, fishing with natural poisons. This method has been critical for providing villagers with a large amount of fish in a short Average monthly amount (kg) of fish product s time, allowing them to make fish paste, bought in Kati locally called "kaóm". Fishing with natural 7.50 Figure 6 poisons is part of the cultural heritage of 0.40 the Punong. Commonly, the use of this 0.00 Prahoc method is locally regulated and requires Fermented Fish the consent of the spirits and a well Dried Fish organized larger group of people to cope Fresh Fish with the multiple tasks. Environmentally, 49.70 natural poisons seem to have a short-term effect, since they naturally degrade and lose their effectiveness within 24 hours. ferent fish products in all Punong villages Snakeheads, catfishes and other anaero- except one, Pu Rung, which is too diffi- bic fish species, crustaceans and amphib- cult to access by car or motorcycle. ians remain largely unaffected by the nat- In the Punong village Kati there are two ural substances, as do human beings (see local shops that sell prahoc. Fresh fish is Annex 4). bought occasionally from Keo Seima mar- ket when other market transactions are In Fig. 7 to Fig. 9 the number of the main undertaken. gears used today is shown. One gillnet is between 10 and 15 m long and one fisher Fishing operations may use up to four or five net pieces. In comparison with the overall lower Longlines are counted by the amount of Mekong basin, the ecosystem of the hooks. Presumably, the fast flowing river headwaters35 of the Chhlong river basin is ecology which prevails in headwaters less diverse. Punong people here have, around Andong Kroloeng makes longlines traditionally, used a rather limited number technically non-feasible, as they are used of fishing gears, compared to the enor- preferably, and more successfully operat- mous variety of fishing gears and methods ed along the edge of rising waterlevels in encountered in the floodplain. The spec- trum of traditional gear types comprises Total number of fishing gears in Total number of fishing gears in Kati Andong Kroloeng Longline 487 Gillnet 116 Single hook 53 Castnet 2 N = 44 Single hook 76 N = 70 Gillnet 137 Castnet 35 Chneang 20 Figure 7 Other fishing gears 50 Figure 8 Chneang 30 Tru 1 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 35 Villagers in the headwaters such as Pu Poanh, Pu Chu, Pu Clair, Andong Kroloeng and Kati, located along the old highway on top of a mountain crest only access river fishing grounds and (distant) rice fields. In Pu Rung, Kati Thmei, Pu Tron and, especially, in O Am villagers have also access to seasonal lakes and swamps. Most of the lakes are located in the plains area between the new road to the province and the Vietnamese border in the surroundings of O Am village. 31 plains and swamp areas. erated in undertaking joint fishing opera- Other fishing gears also include electric tions in large deep pools far from the vil- gear and small mosquito netting bagnets, lages, yielding several oxcarts full of fish. called "du" (both illegal gears). Fishing with natural poisons provides the whole community with relatively large At the source of the Chhlong river the amounts of fish, which is usually gear variety is smaller than in O Am, due processed into fish paste (called in Punong to the latter village being located closer to language "kaó:m"). Though processed in a the middle reaches of the basin and expe- slightly different way than Khmer "pra- riencing larger immigrations from out- hoc", it constitutes an important ingredi- siders, who introduced different gears, ent of most meals. such as bamboo tube eel trap (loan) and basket traps with lateral entry cones (tru). Cosmovision Traditional societies of indigenous peoples Most of the fishing activities are undertak- deriving their livelihoods almost exclusively en individually and without any gender from the natural resources of their ances- specifics except for two cases: scooping tral lands commonly have in-depth tradi- baskets are only used by women and chil- tional knowledge of the ecology and biolo- dren, and castnets are largely used by gy of the habitats they live in. Their prac- men. However, in line with other gender- tice of livelihood and management of natu- specific preferences regarding division of ral resources are embedded in social insti- labor in housekeeping, farming, hunting, tutions, all of which reflect traditional resin collection and collection of other for- beliefs and their world view (Berkes est products, men participate more inten- 1999). Thus, understanding their cosmovi- sively in fishing activities than women. sion is of paramount importance for under- Apart from individual fishing activities, standing their traditional resource use pat- fishing in small and large groups, e.g. terns and management system. This entire villages is quite common. Even understanding, in turn, is crucial as a inter-village cooperation in larger fishing baseline for analyzing external influences and processes of acculturation. Total number of fishing gears in O Am Punong animist religious beliefs and prac- tices are shaped by the need to provide Longline 1922 access to, share and make the best use of Gillnet 131 vital resources. Within Punong worldview, 98 N = 90 Single hook humans are part of the "community of Loan 67 Chneang 7 Commonly, malignant spirits are associated with white Tru 4 crocodiles or white snakes or white turtles. Therefore, it is compulsory to communicate whit them by meams of Other fishing gears 4 Figure 9 sacrifices whenaver these places are visited. The purpose Castnet 3 of the visit defines the type of sacrifice. When somebody just passes by s/he may only offer a cigarette, or some 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 tobaco, or some rice or at least a gesture of praying operations has been reported in the study beings". Social values such as reciprocity area and along the lower reaches of the and respect for each other also apply for Chhlong river basin. Family members, human-animal relationships. These rela- friends, or neighbors may work together tionships are controlled by the spirits pumping out shallow pools, fishing with which inhabit mountains, special forest castnets or using plunge baskets in reces- places and/or trees, salt licks, waterfalls, sion ponds. Collective fishing operations in or deep pools in the rivers or lakes. deep pools are conducted with natural poi- The Punong beliefs represent a metaphysi- sons during dry season. cal superstructure in which the spirits con- trol the success of a hunt or a fishing trip, In the past, Sre Ampil and Pu Char coop- and also access to land. In order to access 32 natural resources, Punong people call on or big trees, called "preay", are considered the "neak ta"36 that is believed to control not to be benevolent, so requiring people them and ask for permission to use them. to hold ceremonies for them to avoid prob- This may imply making a sacrifice in form lems (for example before fishing a deep of chicken blood and rice wine. Each pool in the river). Punong village has its own particular spirit or set of spirits which is believed to gov- There are a variety of other kinds of spir- ern the use of natural resources. It its, which were not studied in detail. They appears that the village selects its neak ta include "arak" spirits, which appear to be and cultivates a relationship with it. associated with particular families, and there are a number of people in each vil- Places which spirits are believed to inhabit lage who are mediums for "araks". White are associated with vital and potentially wild animals are associated with spirits: high yielding natural resources. Often they white fish, white snakes, white crocodiles, can be dangerous and life threatening. In white turtles, etc. These white animals are order to protect individuals and the com- believed to have "praloeung", which might munity, rules of conduct (including taboos) be translated as soul. (Wine jars and rice are invoked periodically or at specific also have "praloeung") events. Sacrifices are made to the "village neak ta" at the village spirit house once a year. To other local spirits, sacrifices are offered preceding important events in a The most important taboos related, but not limited to poison fishing in deep pools are: specific place (farming and fishing), or fol- A fisher can not say to somebody else "I go fising lowing a period of time after which a spe- now"; if he did, he wouldn't catch any fish. If one fishes in a river, sees a lot of fish, and says: cific amount of resources has been gath- "Uhhhh,…there are a lot of fish", then all the fish ered (hunting). would disappear. At home one can say "there was plenty of fish", but not in the forest. In the forest people have to be quiet. If they talk to Collective spirit ceremonies create trans- each other they should not talk about fishing or parency and cohesion within the commu- hunting, about big fish catches or a good kill. nity; ceremonies are not a matter of secret People have to be modest. If one makes a plentiful catch and would then say: worship by an individual but are celebrated "Now I will cook or fry all this fish", then he or she as public events. The obligation to hold a would get sick and stomach ache would strike him spirit ceremony in places that potentially or her. Everyone other than pregnant women can fish in yield abundant harvests eventually implies the deep pools if they follow the rules. Pregnant sharing of the harvest. It is considered not dogs are not allowed to go. During fish poisoning, if somebody does not behave, possible for an individual to conduct a the fish would not succumb to the poison. The major fishing operation with natural poi- "preay" would not allow the fish to get poisoned. sons, for example, unless he is willing to When a girl or woman is menstruating, she cannot go and take a bath in the river or undertake any risk that the spirits punish him and/or the fishing activity. community. Thus, spirits facilitate cultural, When a woman has just delivered a baby, she also cannot take a bath in the river during the first social and physical reproduction of the month after giving birth. community as an institution (see next If a woman delivers in the forest by accident, (if for chapter). example she felldown causing a premature delivery) this is considered a serious case (of offense to the spirits). In addition to the "neak tas" there are A boy and a girl cannot have sexual intercourse other spirits are believed not to be the close to a spirit pool; if they do, somebody at the village gets sick or may die. You also may see dead guardians of a particular village (such as leaves floating on the water surface. the Keo Seima37 spirit before Sre Ampil selected him as their neak ta). Other spir- its associated with deep pools in the river 36 "neak ta" is commonly conceived as a benevolent guardian spirit. 37 Keo Seima is the name of a mountain forest spirit, which is believed to be very powerful. Proof of his power is the fact that during the American war the area was entirely saved from bombing. 33 Traditional Natural Resources 4 AND FISHERIES MANAGEMENT 4.1 TRADITIONAL MANAGEMENT selected on criteria of his status as an elder, honesty, modesty and his personal INSTITUTIONS integrity, in addition to his skills to tell As pointed out in chapter 1 the study was stories. He has to have strong leadership aimed at three administrative villages with qualities and good communication skills, two of them comprising in total nine making the village elders participants in Punong villages (Andong Kroloeng com- important decisions. The chas srok or the prises six [6] and Kati three [3] Punong me kontreanh, as well as certain elders villages). usually have important roles during spirit ceremonies, wedding ceremonies and A Punong village is defined by a set of vil- funerals. They are in charge of mitigating lage specific attributes including "village conflicts according to customary law. In neak ta", boundaries and a burial ground. complex resolution cases the chas srok or Villagers have a clear understanding of me kontreanh will consult with the village their village boundaries. plenary. In case he took biased decisions of conflict resolution and outside local tra- Traditional Punong authorities, with their ditions, the village plenary had the option main function as stewards of local cultural to remove him from his position as primus values, are still more influential than formal inter pares. authorities nominated by commune or dis- trict authorities. The most important local Every village clearly identifies its elders, authorities are "me Kontreanh"38 , "chas both women and men, representing the srok"39, and the elders (White p.337). different family lines. They are very impor- tant in transmitting Punong non-written In the study area the chas srok is the culture, from one generation to the next highest moral authority. In Punong villages and, thus, vested with a high degree of at the lower Chhlong the me kontreanh authority. Frequently, they participate next had a higher ranking than the chas srok to the chas srok in conflict resolution and assuming a role similar to that the com- give advice to young people and newly mune chief does nowadays. Both of them married couples. The village elders, chas constitute the highest moral and religious sroks, etc. function within the context of authority in their villages. The me kontre- the modern administrative system of vil- anh used to have a coordinating authority lage and commune chiefs. among several villages and, historically, also had the capacity to recruit a small They are the only authentic sources of the contingent of armed forces if necessary. non-written customary laws. In accor- Another major function of the me kontre- dance to their paramount importance for anh was to organize communal fishing the survival and reproduction of Punong operations that required massive participa- culture they are highly respected by the tion of many people from several villages whole village. Conflicts between genera- (see chapter on organization of fishing). tions do not seem to be very accentuated currently, even though younger genera- Generally, all villagers participate in select- tions have different interests from the eld- ing their chas srok or me kontreanh. He is ers. Customary laws not only include but 38 Probably, the "Me Kontreanh" has in the study area the same function as "Chas srok". By contrast, in the lower Chhlong basin he had a coordinating function between several villages. 39 "Chas srok" is a village elder and highest authority in terms of moral authority and social ranking. 34 are based on obligations to the ancestors clearing paddy land and chamkar or the power of the spirits. Taboos and making ceremonies for the spirits rules of respect to the spirits act as deter- rents and are enforced by the elders. Activities that could be undertaken any- Infringements of those regulations do have where but needed the permission of the serious impacts not only for the individual relevant chás srok or me kontreanh were: but for the community as a whole and, cutting wood for houses, thus, need to be carefully watched over. cutting wood suitable for carving Infractions would bring about the anger of boats, the spirits, resulting in failure of hunting collecting dry resin trips or fishing operations or sickness and cutting rattan even death of somebody in the village. Compensatory costs of infringements are Activities that were allowed anywhere commonly very high and paid in form of comprised sacrificing pigs, chicken and alcohol to the "walking dogs" (meaning "going offended spirit. hunting") and fishing with small fishing gear Since the days of the French Protectorate, [prokán42: communal fishing grounds could only people from within the village had only be fished within the context of col- free access to the resources of the area lective or inter-community fishing opera- defined as village lands, to farm, fish or tions] - in any pool even the spirit ones43. collect forest products. The use of Before, people were allowed only to fish in resources from a neighboring village their area. Nowadays, exclusivity of fishing required the consent of their chas srok. rights within village boundaries is not con- ceived as strictly. People from other villages Among Punong villages in Snuol district can undertake larger group fishing opera- the term "boundary", traditionally, referred tions beyond their village borders. People to specific types of resource use, which feel compassion for each other, since were important sources of livelihood ("rok everyone is conceived to be a relative, so sí:"40 ). Since each village had its own set people need to help each other. In practice, of spirits, if somebody wanted to access there is a lot of "forgiveness" back and forth44 . "rok sí:" he had to ask the me kontreanh or chás srok at his village for permission. He then had to inform the me kontreanh 4.2 FISHERIES MANAGEMENT at the commune. In that way it was guar- According to FAO (1997), fisheries man- anteed that the spirits of the villages con- agement is defined as an "integrated cerned were properly "informed". process of information gathering, analysis, planning, consultation, decision-making, The following access regulations to natural allocation of resources and formulation resources were recorded from Snuol dis- and implementation, with enforcement as trict, but they seem to be valid, at least necessary, of regulations or rules which partly, in other Punong villages of the govern fisheries activities in order to 41 head waters . ensure the continued productivity of the Activities that could be carried out only resources and accomplishment of other within village boundaries were: fisheries objectives". clearing farm land, burying the dead, 40 "rok sí:" translates literally into "business". 41 The extent of the validity in the study area could not be fully explored within the context of this study, due to the aforementioned approach and result- ing limitations. 42 Prokán: is a restriction based on something; it makes a distinction between different things. It means a person cannot go over there, and from there persons cannot come here. In the old days there was no "prokán" [which is in fact a very negative word], only with regard to farming land. 43 Please note that, commonly, in spirit places only bigger gear and communal fishing operations work effectively. For smaller gear other fishing grounds are more productive. 44 Agreements are made between the village chiefs and villagers from both villages. Villagers from Sre Ampil can borrow buffaloes from people of Chnaeng; villagers from Pu Rung borrow from Pu Char, etc. If they need a pig they can borrow a pig from the other village. So if one village is too strict on the fishing grounds they would have difficulties to borrow buffaloes or pigs from the neighbors. 35 Cambodia, as a member of the United other villages, neighboring as well as from Nations, is signatory to the Code of Conduct further afield, need to inform the tradition- for Responsible Fisheries developed by al authority if they want to conduct a FAO. Though it is not binding for govern- major fishing operation, for example in a ments, it provides very useful guidelines for deep pool. Access to fishing grounds is improved fisheries management (FAO granted as set of rules of conduct with 2003, FAO 1997). Regarding management regard to different types of fishing grounds. measures it is proposed that "when decid- Individual fishing is allowed everywhere, ing on the use, conservation and manage- except in communal fishing grounds for ment of fisheries resources, due recogni- natural poisoning (see Annex 4). This tion should be given, as appropriate, in measure translates into geographically accordance with national laws and regula- limiting the resource pressure. tions, to the traditional practices, needs and interests of indigenous people and Closed areas local fishing communities which are highly There are also some places that are com- dependent on fishery resources for their pletely off-limits for any fishing activity. livelihood" (FAO 2003: p.29)45 . The spirits inhabiting these places are con- sidered "very strict" and any lack of respect would result in serious consequences, 4.3 TRADITIONAL FISHERIES such as sickness to everybody in the village. Frequently, closed areas are deep pools, MANAGEMENT RULES often associated with waterfalls. Here fish Access and rights regimes are central ele- may concentrate as the waterfall forces ments of fisheries management. As implied some species to discontinue their up-stream above, fisheries management measures migration. Also a series of taboos and rules are embedded in the cultural (cosmovision, of conduct, that describe forms of express- knowledge system, traditions, religious ing modesty and respect to nature while beliefs, etc.) background of Punong people. retrieving benefits from it, have been wide- spread. Closed areas, thus, reduce fishing Traditional fisheries management includes effort and facilitate stock recovery and both intentional and inadvertent measures. recruitment46. Practices and taboos related to appeasing Gear restrictions and restrictions of partic- the spirits and preventing the community ular fishing methods. The main gear from suffering punishments of the spirits restriction refers to use of natural poisons, can be seen as management measures as in particular the application rate of natural they directly regulate access to the substances during the fishing operation. resources and influence their sustainability Introduced and highly damaging fishing (COFAD 2002). Some of the most visible methods, such as electrocuting, chemical management measures for fisheries are: poisoning, explosives and the use of small mosquito netting bagnets are rejected and Access control negatively sanctioned by the traditional In principle, access to fish is granted to authorities. Banning highly damaging prac- everybody following the regulations includ- tices significantly decreases fish mortality ing the rules of respect to the spirits. and, consequently, aids resource preserva- Decisions regarding allocation of tenure or tion. However, compliance with these conflict resolution are made by traditional restrictions is a function of governance authorities, and enforcement is carried out (see chapter 5.1). by the users of the resource. Fishers from 45 One of the most important principles propagated by the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries is the precautionary approach, which refers to "a set of agreed cost-effective measures and actions, including future courses of action, which ensures prudent foresight, reduces or avoids risk to the resources, the environment, and the people, to the extent possible taking explicitly into account existing uncertainties and the potential consequences of being wrong" (FAO 1997). The Technical Guidelines propose that "States should apply the precautionary approach widely to conservation, management and exploitation of living aquatic resources in order to prevent them and preserve the aquatic environment. The absence of adequate scientific information should not be used as a reason for postponing or failing to take conservation and management measures" (FAO 2003:26/27). 46 Number, location, nature and species composition typically found in closed areas would require further research to fully assess their importance in fisheries management. 36 Sharing of individual fish catch biodegrade, and natural substances from The principle of sharing of forest products plants and trees, which are traditionally when they are abundant effectively trans- used selectively and, which biodegrade lates into economizing use of natural within hours. resources and fish. The custom of sharing fish also creates a sort of public mechanism Draft Sub-decree on Community Fisheries to monitor extraction of fish. In particular, Development widows and sick persons who have limited Currently, a sub-decree on community access to fish have to be given fish by the fisheries development is being drafted. more productive members of the communi- The draft in its present form puts strong ty. This measure also reduces fishing effort, emphasis on the role of DoF in facilitating since people are not allowed to privatize a community fisheries, rendering its applica- big catch entirely. tion in Mondulkiri questionable as DoF does not have an office there. Sacrifices (or payments of fees) Furthermore, according to the draft only Specific places, as mentioned above, such "Khmer citizens" (Article 18) are entitled as deep pools can only be accessed for to vote for and stand as candidates for poison fishing following a sacrifice to the election as members of the Community spirit. Sacrifices are integral to fishing Fisheries Committee. Whether this provision activity. Even though sacrifices intend to excludes indigenous people is not clear; it provide for a bountiful fish catch, they does include the Vietnamese ethnic minor- fulfill the function of decreasing fishing ity fishers, however. intensity by individuals because costs are incurred by "investing" in a spirit ceremo- Given the absence of the responsible ny. Also, the belief in the necessity of authority, DoF, in the province, not sur- sacrifices leads to public control/visibility prisingly, law enforcement is very weak and and reduction of excessive resource use. only partly taken care of by other Govern- ment offices, such as the Forest Administ- ration, or NGO initiatives (such as WCS). 4.4 FORMAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK Fisheries Law Draft Protected Areas Law According to All fishing activities undertaken within the the latest drafts of the Protected Areas Law inland fisheries domain47 are subject to and the Ministerial Declaration on Southern the fisheries law of the Kingdom of Mondulkiri Biodiversity Conservation Project, Cambodia. The Department of Fisheries the study area is located mainly within the (DoF) is responsible for the development Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area of fisheries policies, their application and (SBCA) [O Am is predominantly in the enforcement. Snuol Wildlife Santuary and so governed by the draft PA law and the Royal subdecree]. The fisheries law does not make any refer- According to this legislation, the Forestry ence to traditional fisheries management Administration is responsible for managing practices of indigenous peoples in the the area and ensuring that it is used sus- country. According to the law the use "all tainably for the development and livelihoods kinds of poisons" for fishing purposes is of the local communities in the area. Even prohibited (Fiat Law on Fisheries though logging operations are currently Management and Administration, No.33 suspended, legally, the SBCA is part of KRO.CHOR Chapter 2, Article 17, A; also the Samling logging concession. Access to new draft fisheries law maintains this for- use and residence within the area are mulation). There is no distinction between bound legally by the Land Law (Articles industrial chemical poisons that kill every 23-28 and 138-141). animal and most of the plants and do not 47 "The Fiat Law defines the Inland Fisheries Domain as "all rivers, tributaries of rivers, lakes, streams, small rivers, canals, inundated forest areas or water channels, natural ponds, holes in the ground, which … [receive their] water from the river, tributaries of the rivers, lakes streams and small rivers." (No.33 KRO.CHOR, Phnom Penh, 9 March 1987 37 5 RECENT TRENDS The study was undertaken at a moment of provinces, settling along the new logging crisis. Livelihoods of Punong people have road in the West of O Am. Up to date, been affected by external factors outside three Muslim mosques have been built in the control of their families and communities. this area. The selling of forest land for Major reasons for this situation include: clearing, settlement and, possibly, land grabbing has attracted and is attracting more and more people. 5.1 ACCULTURATION There have been systematic initiatives to New religious mission integrate Punong people into mainstream During the last decade the incursion of society since the colonial administration, aggressive Christian religious missions has motivated by the need for cheap labor and been furthering the break off from tradition- soldiers, and informal and ongoing pushes al belief and value systems. In particular, to claim land for plantations and logging in one of the administrative sectors of O by the Kingdom or national state (White Am administrative village, Stieng indige- 1996). For the Punong incipient nous people, but also some Punong and "Khmerization" has translated into disregard R'ong indigenous people abjured their tra- for their cultural values, mistreatment, ditional spirits. decimation of wildlife and loss of resin trees and land, exposure to religious beliefs Improved communication unrelated to the ecology of the forests and Improved communication accelerates being subjected to national laws with little acculturation. Access to markets facilitate or no consideration for their life style and better prices of local farm and forest prod- needs for livelihoods. Often, Punong people ucts. The huge potential of the forests for express their feelings of being treated as poaching and trading of wildlife, cutting of second class people by the mainstream timber and clearing land for tree plantations Khmer society. Khmers sometimes use the is bringing in investment and increasingly term "chunchiet" for Punong people and indigenous people are actively engaged in the word "Phnong" as derogatory for all exploiting it. tribal people - synonymous with uneducated, illiterate, and inferior people. The Punong Decentralization process feel disadvantaged because of their "lack The process of political and administrative of business experience. They are aware of decentralization, initiated since the com- their limited bargaining power and often mune council elections in 2002, has virtu- feel 'cheated' in trading situations but also ally led to a centralization process of, tra- feel helpless to protect themselves" ditionally, largely decentralized Punong (White 1996: p.360). settlements. It also seems to mirror imper- fections of governance. However, the Immigration decentralization process resulting in a cen- In the area of O Am and Chnaeng a tralization of political decision-making of significant immigration of people with Punong villages provides a potentially different cultural identities and conflicting important platform for coordinating locally socio-economic interests took place after based management of natural resources at the re-integration of former Khmer Rouge commune level. soldiers into mainstream society. Large numbers of ethnic Cham as well as Khmer Imperfect governance families immigrated from Kampong Cham Imperfect governance practices impact negatively not only on the natural resources 38 themselves but also on NRM processes trees on previously fallow land and whole that rely on engaging people and institu- families turned to wage labor. In the set- tions at the various levels of management. tlements in Andong Kroleong village, steal- The basic problem is that most government ing of resin and establishing family compa- agencies present in the study area are nies for sharing resin collection have accountable upward to provincial or national increased since people lost their resin trees. authorities rather than downward to indige- In addition, people engage increasingly in nous communities. illegal activities, such as logging, hunting50, and fishing with highly damag- Punong people and local authorities alike ing fishing gears has taken place. strongly complain about the involvement of armed forces (police, soldiers, border Illegal fishing police and military police) in illegal logging, Fishing with grenades seems to be the hunting and fishing operations. Complaints oldest highly destructive fishing method in by local fishers to authorities, by lower the region. Until recently, fishing with ranking authorities to higher authorities, or explosives was closely related to the his- by authorities from one sector to those tory of armed conflict and the presence of from another are not yielding major results. police and soldiers. It has been reported Fishers and lower level players feel that that soldiers often invite villagers to fish they can do very little, if anything, to with explosives in exchange for a share of influence, let alone stop higher level players the catch. Electrocuting of fish, the use of in fisheries. Influence, as perceived by very strong chemical poisons (generally fishers and local authorities alike, is exer- called "Anthrine") and the use of small cised from above and accountability of stationary double wing bagnets made of government is very weak. mosquito netting ("du") have been intro- duced, reportedly, since the new millenium Though positive results of the FA/WCS by Vietnamese poachers. These methods patrolling teams are largely acknowledged are also used by Cham and Khmer new- by village and commune authorities, their comers to the area and Punong people credibility among villagers is weakened by themselves have been experimenting with the fact that they are seen letting poach- electric gears and "du", further eroding ers with backing from higher levels "off traditional conservation practices. the hook". This is not only been reported by villagers but also confirmed by mem- Illegal fishing activities are not limited to bers of patrolling teams, who also express the study area. Illegal activities were their frustration that arrested offenders are reported across the lower reaches of the often freed by the courts. Chhlong river wide-spread, including elec- trocuting, large scale use of chemical poi- sons and the use of barrage with dai bag- 5.2 RESOURCE PRESSURE net operations. Even if people in the study area were to succeed in managing their LOSS OF RESIN TREES fisheries in a sustainable way it would The massive loss of resin trees to log- help little or nothing if downstream (or ging48, and thus, loss of significant cash upstream from a particular village) fish income, triggered a series of compensa- stocks and habitats were destroyed. tory trends. The affected resin tappers However, with the absence of the turned to cutting rattan and bamboo as Department of Fisheries in Mondulkiri there alternative products of the forest. Mostly is no government agency that has a clear younger people intensified hunting activi- mandate and sufficient capacity to curb ties. Some affected resin tappers in O Am illegal fishing in that part of the catchment. reported that they introduced cashew49 48 Commercial logging by Samling ceased in 1999, however illegal logging has been an issue since. 49 Cashew trees have been cultivated in the larger area more than a decade, but there are indications that Phunong people are increasingly planting them in fallow lands since losing resin trees. 50 Hunting has traditionally been an important livelihood activity. In 1959 it was forbidden by the Forestry Law and regulated through the Decrees …….. thus, by default, illegalizing this livelihood strategy. Hunting as part of Phunong cultural heritage has been continuing until nowadays, however, increas- ingly as a source of attractive cash income due to lucrative wildlife trade (to Vietnam and China in particular) 39 Consequences for 6MANAGEMENT 6.1 SCOPE FOR FISHERIES applied to members of mainstream society and those in charge of enforcing it. They MANAGEMENT perceive that laws have little meaning if As shown above, the traditional system of they are widely ignored. management of natural resources including fisheries resources by the Punong peoples The increase of illegal activities carried out was based on a differentiated set of terri- by outsiders and armed forces, in conjunc- torial use rights and tenure. As observed tion with the limited capacity of patrolling elsewhere, management based on tenure teams to enforce the law tend to con- can often adapt to a certain degree to the tribute to an accelerating process of ero- use of modern gear and cash economies, sion of Punong cultural values and their as access and compensation adjust traditional fisheries management regime. accordingly. However, the adaptation The general weakness of governance of depends to a large part on the resilience mainstream society is felt more strongly of the whole traditional authority structure by Punong villagers since they have less in the face of change and the acceptance, experience and confidence to in defending of traditional management, by the state themselves. The capacity of Punong peo- and the new administration. If traditional ple to reinvigorate their cultural values and tenure is not recognized, then the prac- livelihood strategies will be decisive for tices of control and compensation are sim- their preparedness to defend their ances- ilarly ignored (COFAD 2003). tral land area and its resources from out- siders. There is a gap between the formal fish- eries law and regulations that give the The nexus between the current fisheries broader framework for fisheries manage- practice and traditional management also ment in the country and the traditional influences traditional decision-making pat- management customs that worked over terns. As fish populations are perceived to centuries in Punong society. The challenge decrease by many villagers, the willing- stems from the complexity of traditional ness of Punong people to comply with resource management systems already in local rules and regulations is lessening51 . place and the added demands when new Only where the sense of community own- arrivals (immigrants and armed forces ership is well developed and the communi- alike) come into direct competition with ty strongly supports local norms and rules the original residents for subsistence and individual villagers are more likely to commercial fishing. abstain from engaging in illegal fishing52. If, however community support for tradi- Today, Punong villagers find themselves in tional management practices weakens, ille- a world of legal (and existential) uncertain- gal fishing is likely to increase as long as ties. Their perception of the "new order" fishery resources are available. is that the state laws are used by the Consequently, the community's decreasing powerful and (often armed) individuals for willingness to stop illegal fishers encour- their own ends. There is increasing frus- ages others to take up illegal fishing activi- tration among them for being harassed for ties. allegedly disrespecting national laws, while at the same time the same law is not 51 For example, in Andong Kroloeng a Commune Council member and in Purung a militia have been engaging in electric fishing. Thus, by their position within local authority structure they undermine local fisheries management regulations. 52 This seems to be the case in Pupoanh village. 40 6.2 DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES substantial loss of resin trees and the self- Findings of the field work underline the perceived decline in fish and wildlife avail- fact that people are becoming increasingly ability, think that they do not have an ade- 53 aware of fish resources being overexploit- quate income . ed. To understand the reasons will hope- fully lead to rethinking management and Findings of the field work indicate that, if provide for social learning at individual as people felt that their incomes were ade- well as on institutional level. quate, they would be less likely to engage At the moment, it appears that three pos- in illegal fishing. Self-perceived drops in sible scenarios can be visualized: income level appear to have increased will- ingness to fish illegally. This willingness is Scenario 1: Punong culture, value system a result of the "desired income ratio" and social cohesion are strong enough to (Dudley 2001), i.e. how people judge their survive and flexible enough to adapt to actual income with regard to the desired externalities. This will lead to innovation income. The desired income ratio can, of of approaches to cope with the new situa- course, change if the desired income tion/trends while preserving the conserva- changes, e.g. due to any increase of mar- tionist philosophy of their traditional use ket prices for essential assets or food of natural resources and fish. This will, items, or the desire to acquire consumer possibly, have positive spillover effects on goods, etc. Thus, as the income needs immigrants and civil society. increase, the willingness to engage in ille- gal fishing will increase as well, depending Scenario 2: The culture of indigenous peo- on other options available. Once the ple suffers from external influences and desired income has been achieved, the people participate in the "run for fish". willingness to fish illegally stabilizes unless Fishers adapt new fishing practices while influenced by other factors (e.g. drastic maintaining largely their traditional values. decrease in fish stocks, or loss of animal protein for household consumption with- Scenario 3: Punong communities succumb out alternatives of replacement). to external pressure and participate in the "race for the fish". As a consequence, Competition with other illegal fishers their traditional values and fisheries man- Illegal fishers from the outside, i.e. non- agement system disappear. Punong and Punong people such as immigrants, armed other indigenous people have to compete forces (police, border police and soldiers) with outsiders and police/military. and people operating with the tacit agree- Their culture will gradually disappear. ment of local authorities seem to have influenced Punong to participate in illegal Punong people have responded to the sig- fishing. nificant stress from outside by increased willingness to participate in the "race for Fishing by non-Punong completely disre- fish" to the extent that resource use gards traditional use patterns of indige- becomes largely uncontrolled. nous people, with no considerations for spirit sites or principles of sharing. The In the following an attempt is made to main goal is to extract as much fish as understand the sphere of illegal fishing possible within the shortest possible time, from the point of view of Punong people mainly for cash income, and to a much (emic view), referring to Dudley (2001). lesser degree for their own consumption. Need for cash income With improved transport to markets, some Generally, Punong villagers, in view of Punong have also started to follow the value pattern in illegal fishing activities. 53 Little is known about local hunting practices and rules & regulations. Thus, it is difficult to assess, at this point, the contribution of hunting to the gen- eration of cash income. 41 Initially, they acquired the technical skills the Mekong river system also have conse- as assistants to illegal operators from the quences that are felt in the study area. armed forces, helping them to collect fish Increased fishing pressure and/or other after grenade explosions or chemical poi- development measures leading to habitat soning, in exchange for a part of the degradation (cutting of flooded forest, catch, thus gradually losing remaining inhi- conversion of wetlands, use of agricultural bitions based on their traditional manage- pesticides, etc.) or disruption of the inter ment rules. As the actual number of illegal connectivity of vital fish habitats (con- fishers in a village increase, the percent- struction of dams for irrigation or for elec- age of illegal fishers also increases. As a tricity from hydro power) within the larger consequence, the willingness of villagers ecosystem is critical to conservation of to engage in illegal fishing tends to fisheries resources in the study area. increase at village level, if no other factors influence the outcome. However, some of the findings of this study indicate that conservation and sus- Lack of basin-wide approach to fisheries tainable use of the local ichthyofauna and management its diversity can be achieved through local- The decrease of fish stocks is not only ly applied management, by curbing fishing caused by the activities of illegal and pressure and destructive fishing practices destructive fishing. Factors leading to a and by protection of critical habitats, in decrease of the recruitment capacity of particular the deep pools54 . fish stocks in other parts of the basin or 54 Further research on the importance of deep pools and their inter-connectivity in a seasonal perspective is critical to understanding the Chhlong river catchment and its role in Cambodian fisheries in general. Preferably, research should be carried out in a way that it serves as a platform of intercom- munication and information generation with local resource users and authorities alike (rather than limiting the research to extracting information without devolving it and "white-balancing" [re-assessing] it with them). 42 7RECOMMENDATIONS On the base of the findings of the study, a X involve communities in identifying number of preliminary recommendations potentials for CBNRM, can be formulated: X organize community fisheries and seek official sanction for a community All efforts to facilitate sustainable role in enforcement. Begin by resources need to address the sphere of identifying those areas with the local governance, including rule of law, greatest poten tials. transparency and accountability. In addi- X help communities establish fish tion, improving environmental governance conservation areas, particularly in in the target area will have to fully take deep pools into account the idiosyncrasies of Punong X produce communication tools and other indigenous people. The follow- (videos) in the Punong language on ing steps are visualized: subjects relevant for community X Conduct participatory action research participation in NRM. on conflict management and communication between Efforts by competent authorities to stakeholders. strengthen Punong cultural identity leading X Facilitate opportunities for to conserving traditional management communication between Punong practices and regulations need to be put in villagers and local government. place and provided with a legal basis. X Bridge the gap between local Efforts should include the acknowledge- villagers, the bio-diversity teams, local ment of traditional production patterns as authorities, and armed forces. fishing with natural poisons as an environ- X Enforce bans on electro-fishing, mentally sound fishing practice, for exam- grenades, and chemical poisoning. ple. Most critical, however, will be the X Educate commune councilors about protection from attempts to take away the Fisheries Law. their land (land grabbing, etc.) and seeking ways to resist or mitigate the external These activities will require an under- pressures that destroy their cultural identi- standing of surviving traditional manage- ties (including hasy adoption of other cul- ment and knowl edge systems, eventually tural norms and religiousmconversion). to be adapted, included in, and applied to locally developed and com munity-based The above recommendations could management within the particular commu- be accommodated if a rights-based nity, region or in the river basin at large. approach to resource management to This implies that government (local and guide development agendas55 would be central) accepts the legitimacy of indige- implemented. This would imply obliga tory nous peoples' right to their ancestral land, consultations of stakeholders in general their traditional system of management and self-determination of indigenous peo- and their social and cultural institutions. ples in particular. Many donors, such as To facilitate community participation in UN organizations, DFID, Danida, among NRM it is necessary to: others are using this approach to shape 55 The Cambodian Government has not yet ratified the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169). The standards contained in ILO Convention No. 169 establish a basic framework for the protection of indigenous and tribal peoples under international law. Among others, Article 8 requires ratifying States to take indigenous and tribal custom and customary law into account when applying national laws and regulations to the peo- ples concerned. UN donor support provided advice to the Cambodian Government in connection with a National Policy on Highland Peoples Development. The support included capacity-building to foster dialogue between the Government of Cambodia and indigenous and tribal peoples, a crucial element of the national policy. support included capacity-building to foster dialogue between the Government of Cambodia and indigenous and tribal peoples, a crucial element of the national policy. 43 their programmes of assistance. platforms for WCS staff to learn this language. The prerogative of a rights based X Reinforce traditional village authorities approach would require the acknowledge- by supporting intergenerational learning ment of the right of Punong to manage and keeping the negative effects of their fisheries and, if necessary, to exclude external interference to a minimum. outsiders. As a result, Punong fisheries X Help the Punong to document their management practices would play an traditional management systems in a increasingly important role in decentralized, way that is useful to them and allows local government driven natural resource them to improve adapt, and apply management in the area. Concrete steps these systems to the changing condtions would be to within their communities. X document impacts of outsiders on X Conduct participatory action research Punong villages on Punong traditional natural resource X seek official agreements excluding management systems regarding fish outsiders and immigrants from Punong and other resources (since they usually village lands. evidence quite some overlapping). This seems to be crucial because of X Organize meetings for people from dif their high potential to act as wildlife ferent areas to reach common poachers, illegal fishers, illegal loggers understanding on traditional and land grabbers. managem ent systems. In parallel, WCS should review its pro- X Assist Punong communities to map cedures to assist in law enforcement to fishing grounds, spirit sites, important prevent illegal settling and overuse of resource areas, in particular deeppools. resources by both villagers and outsiders, X Reaffirm Punong traditional manage exploring bottom-up approaches to NRM. ment systems, in particular the use of This implies advocacy of acknowledgement natural poisons as an environmentally by Government of Punong ancestral rights sound fishing practice. and entitlements to use their communal lands X Seek official acknowledgement of the and resources, giving due recognition to local right of the Punong to manage their management institutions and promoting fisheries according to traditional their consideration in formal management systems and to exclude others (seek plans. This implies WCS should readjust the communal title of fishing grounds). current practice of participatory land use X Help Punong communities title their planning and consider local institutional traditional lands, refocusing attention identities (of, for example, Punong village on traditional village units instead of boundaries as conceived by the villagers) administrative villages. Traditional and relationships between neighboring set- management of natural resources has tlements within administrative villages. been confined to traditional village institutions and not to superimposed Local Government and line agencies village structures. should be assisted to improve their under- standing and consideration of Punong peo- Village institutions have to be the starting ple, their culture and traditions, in order to point if traditional management is to con- reaffirm Punong cultural identity and tradi- tribute to natural resource management in tional authority. A roadmap to achieve this the newly defined entities. could include the following steps: X Conduct participatory research on Punong cultural institutions and tradi tional authority. X Promote the use of Punong language, through audio-visual materials in the Punong language and provide learning 44 8 REFERENCES Allison, Edward H. and Benoit Horemans. tropical Asian rivers and streams in rela- 2004. Poverty alleviation, sustainable tion to biodiversity conservation. In: Ann. livelihoods and management in small scale Rev. Ecol. Syst. 31: 239-263 fisheries. Contribution to the 3rd Workshop on Factors of Unsustainability Dy Phon Pauline. 2000. Dictionary of and Overexploitation in Fisheries. Siem plants used in Cambodia. (In English, Reap, Cambodia, 13-16 September 2004. French and Khmer) Imprimerie Olympic, FAO/Japan Government Cooperative Phnom Penh. Programme Evans, Tom D., Hout Piseth, Phet Phaktra Berkes, F. 1999. Sacred Ecology. and Hang Mary, 2003. 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Phnom Penh 18-19 July 1996 47 Glossary English Punong Khmer Khmer Remark (transcript) (transcript) Cast net cha:l / chea:l sMNaj; samnanh Fishing by hand nhepka: mati: cab;edayéd chap doy dai Deep Pool klong Gnøg; anlung Fish paste kaóm Rbhuk prahoc Fishing with krao ca bMBuledaysMbkeQI bompuldoysam natural bokchier poisoning Grid trap n’dóh sab seb / sab Hand-held lift yú qñúkERs chhnouk sre net Hand scooping nérr, k’nérr Qñag chneang basket Hook (simple) n'da:r snÞÚc santouch Hook long line rru’o:ng snÞÚcrng santouch ronong Moon kái RBHc½nÞ preah chann Mountain / Hill k'norr PñM phnom Plunge basket ‘ngrrút GRgut angruth Python snake glán Bs;føan; púh thlán Single hook n’da:rr snÞÚcvat; santouch plae muoy Single hook set darrdorr snÞÚcbégá santouch pole and line bongkai Smoked fish chukka: RtIeqI¥rsøwkéRK trey ch'ae slek Highly appreciated with lemongrass n’haimlang krey dish Smoked fish chukka: RtIweq¥IrxJI trey ch'ae kney Highly appreciated with ginger n’haimcha:r dish Spirit brráh RBH preah very strict spirit Gñkta neak ta Village guardian spirit Swamp yu:d valPk; vielpouk Basket trap pa:m lb lop Vertical vase bong tuM paong/chu/tom trap Waterfall leng TwkRCuH tek chruh Water pumping cha:t ca )acTwk bach tek (fishing) Wedge cone brray leay trap Cone trap sró: leay Worm (for bait) bran, brran phoi, brran thang 48 Annex1 Fish of the headwaters of Chhlong River56 Scientific Khmer Punong Remarks name name57 name58 Order TETRAODONTIFORMES Family TETRAODONTIDAE Genus Monotreta Monotreta fangi Trey Kampot Ca Pók In O Huot, not in O Kanong, not in O Pórr. Fished with castnet Family CLARIIDAE Genus Clarias Clarias batrachus Trey Andaing Ca N'tarr In O Kanong, O Pórr. It is a big fish available in both dry Reoung and rainy seasons. Caught with gillnets, hooks with worm as bait. With natural poison difficult to catch, it is very strong and does not die easily. Clarias macrocephalus Trey Andaing Ca N'chék In O Chlong, O Kanong, O Pórr, O Rona. Only in deep Toun pools where there are big rocks and they can hide under. Fished with hooks and gillnets but difficult to catch with natural poison. Family SYNBRANCHIDAE Genus Monopterus Monopterus albus Antung N'dúng In ponds like Trapeang Heav, in rivers O Chlong, O Rona. Usually they live in holes or in swamps. At beginning of rains they come up. In October they migrate down like other fish. Fished with gillnets, hooks and eel hook and bare hands. Genus Ophisternon Ophisternon Antong N'dúng In ponds like Trapeang Heav, in rivers O Chlong, O Rona. bengalense Usually they live in holes or in swamps. At beginning of rains they come up. In October they migrate down like other fish. Fished with gillnets, hooks and eel hook and bare hands. Order CIPRINIFORMES Family CYPRINIDAE Subfamily DANIOINAE Tribe DANIONI Genus Luciosoma Luciosoma bleekeri Trey Dong Ca In O Pórr, O Kanong, O Chlong but not very frequent. Dao, Chengroloeng Migrates up waterfalls and is found in every deep pool. It Trey Bang can swim very fast and gets stuck in gillnets quickly. Kouy Fished with castnet, gillnet and natural poisoning. Luciosoma bleekeri Trey Dong Ca N’péh Thong Dao Genus Rasbora Rasbora dusonensis Trey Changva Ca R'tóng In O Chlong, O Kanong, O Pórr and O Rona rivers but also in recession ponds. Has a lot of eggs. Fished with hook, gillnet, castnet and natural poisoning. Boiled fish has a very good taste, is also excellent for prahoc because it has a small stomach. Rasbora hobelmani Trey Changva Rasbora myersi Trey Changva 56 The present list of fish species is considered incomplete, due to the limitations of the methodology. Further taxonomic, biological and environmental studies are deemed useful. The species names here are provisional. 57 Mainly, maintaining orthography of Rainboth 1996 58 Punong language does not have a script. Here a phonetic transcript is used to name the fish species in Punong language. 49 Scientific Khmer Punong Remarks name name59 name60 Rasbora paviei Trey Changva Ca R'tóng In O Kanong, O Pórr, O Chlong, O Rona, also in recession Chhnot ponds. Migrate and have eggs up here, eats everything in the water, including monkey shit. Fished with gillnet, castnet, hooks and only with very strong natural poisons Rasbora tornieri Trey Changva Ca Tang In O Kanong, O Pórr, O Chlong, O Rona, also in recession Moul ponds. Migrate and have eggs up here, eats everything in the water, including monkey shit. Fished with gillnet, castnet, hooks and only with very strong natural poisons Subfamily CYPRININAE Tribe CYPRININI Subtribe TORES Genus Probarbus Probarbus jullienni Trey Trosok Ca Pong In O Pórr, O Kanong, O Chlong. Found as big as ½ kg in deep pools under big rocks. Lays eggs here. Fished with gillnet, castnet and natural poisons in the dry season. In Rainy season with hook. Probarbus labeamajor Trey Trasok Ca Yóng O Pórr. Has eggs in May/June. Up to ½ kg big. Likes to Sor stay under rocks. Fished with gillnet, natural poisons and castnet. Cover the hole rock with castnet, then remove the rock and get the fish beneath. Genus Tor Tor sinensis Tor tambroides Trey Khaor Ca Héau In O Pórr, O Kanong, O Chlong, O Rona. There are a lot of them in these rivers. Fished with castnet and natural poisoning (but it is very hard to die with natural poisoning). Mainly it is caught with hook and a wild red fruit "plae gram" as bait, it reacts very quickly with this bait. Tribe SYSTOMINI Subtribe OSTEOBRAMAE Genus Cyclocheilichthys Cyclocheilichthys Trey Sroka Ca Chérr In O Pórr. O Chlong, O Kanong, but not in O Rona. Has repasson Kdam eggs and migrates like the other fish. Fished with gillnet, castnet, hooks and natural poisoning. Cyclocheilichtys Trey Pkha Ko Ca R'báe In O Pórr, O Kanong, O Chlong, O Rona. Feeds on algae. amatus Migrates and lays eggs up here. Fished with gillnet, castnet and natural poisoning (not with hooks). Cyclocheilichthys Trey Pkhar Ko Ca Ché:rr??? All three fish are know here in the area (O Chlong, O Pórr, amatus O Kanong, O Rona) but he doesn't remember the names. All migrate and have eggs up here. Fished with castnet, gillnet and natural poisoning. Cyclocheilichthys lageri Trey Sroka Ca Pum In headwaters everywhere, migrate up and down between Kdam deep pools, and some stay there in dry season. Fished with gillnets, cast nets and natural poisoning. Cyclocheilichthys Trey Sroka Ca N’rrák In headwaters everywhere, migrate up and down between repasson Kdam deep pools, and some stay there in dry season. Fished with gillnets, cast nets and natural poisoning. Genus Puntioplites Puntioplites falcifer Trey Ca R'pai In O Pórr, but not in O Kanong. Carries eggs when it Chrakaing migrates up-stream. Fished with hook, gillnet, castnet and natural poisons. Subtribe SEMIPLOTI Genus Hypsibarbus Hypsibarbus lagleri Trey Chhpin Ca R'páeh In O Pórr, O Kanong, O Chlong, O Rona. Not found in ponds. Migrate and lay eggs up here. Mostly fished with gillnet, castnet, hook and natural poisoning. Hypsibarbus lagleri Trey Chhpin Ca R'páeh In O Pórr, O Kanong, O Chlong, O Rona. Not found in ponds. Migrate and lay eggs up here. Mostly fished with gillnet, castnet, hook and natural poisoning. 59 Mainly, maintaining orthography of Rainboth 1996 60 Punong language does not have a script. Here a phonetic transcript is used to name the fish species in Punong language. 50 Scientific Khmer Punong Remarks name name61 name62 Genus Propuntius Propuntius deauratus Trey Lolok Sor Ca H’eav Everywhere. Migrates. Fished with gillnets, hooks, castnet. Some remain in deep pools in dry season. Subtribe SYSTOMI Genus Hampala Hampala dispar Trey Khmán Ca Chrók In O Pórr, O Kanong, O Chlong, O Rona. Eats everything and migrates as other fish, has eggs up here. Fished with gillnet, castnet, hook and natural poisoning. Hampala macrolepidota Trey Khmán Ca Chrók Genus Systomus Systomus binotatus [no Khmer Ca R'pól In O Pórr, O Kanong, O Chlong, O Rona. Also found in (Puntius binotatus) name in ponds. Migrates and lays eggs up here. Can pass Rainboth waterfalls. Fished with gillnet, castnet and natural 1996] poisoning. Systomus orphoides Trey Ampil Ca Pum In O Pórr, O Kanong, O Romanh, O Chlong, O Rona, O (Puntius orphoides) Thom Ngeun. Fished with gillnets, castnets, etc. Tribe CATLINI Genus Thynnichthys Thynnichthys Trey Linh Ca Chap In O Pórr, O Kanong, O Chlong. Occurs below the first thynnoides down-stream waterfall of each of the rivers. Migrates down in groups in October. Fished with lop, castnet, gillnet. Tribe LABEONINI Subtribe LABEONES Genus Dangila Dangila lineata Trey Khnong Ca Phork In O Kanong, O Pórr63. Scaly fish, migrate up with the first Veng rains and has eggs in May/June. Fished with castnet, hooks with worms as bait and gillnets. With natural poisons it dies very fast. Dangila sp.cf. Trey Khnong Ca Chérr In O Kanong, O Pórr. Migrate like other fish. Feeds on Veng algae on the rocks. Fished with castnet, gillnet and single hook Dangila Spilopleura Trey Ach Kok Ca Tók In O Pórr but not in O Kanong. Migrate like other fish. Fished with gillnets, castnet and natural poisoning. Not fish with hooks. Genus Henicorhynchus Henicorhynchus Trey Riel Migrate by group only at night. Is one of the first fishes to caudimaculatus migrate up. In Sept/Oct with clear weather, open sky and sun, no rain they migrate downstream. In April/May they migrate upstream very fast. They cross waterfalls and rapids. Fished with gillnet, castnet and natural poisoning. Upstreammigration lasts 10-14 days. Henicorhynchus Trey Riel Ca N’rriel Migrate by group only at night. Is one of the first fishes to cryptopogon migrate up. In Sept/Oct with clear weather, open sky and sun, no rain they migrate downstream. In April/May they migrate upstream very fast. They cross waterfalls and rapids. Fished with gillnet, castnet and natural poisoning. Upstreammigration lasts 10-14 days. Henicorhynchus Trey Riel Ca Chap Migrate by group only at night. Is one of the first fishes to simanensis migrate up. In Sept/Oct with clear weather, open sky and sun, no rain they migrate downstream. In April/May they migrate upstream very fast. They cross waterfalls and rapids. Fished with gillnet, castnet and natural poisoning. Upstreammigration lasts 10-14 days. Genus Lobocheilos Lobocheilos davisi [no Khmer not known In O Chlong, O Pórr, O Kanong and O Rona. name in Rainboth1996] Lobocheilos Trey Changwa Ca Chráng In O Rona, O Chlong, O Pórr, O Kanong. Only in rivers, melanotaenia Ronoung not in recession ponds. Fished with gillnet and castnet, but not with hooks (feeds on algae and water weeds). 61 Mainly, maintaining orthography of Rainboth 1996 62 Punong language does not have a script. Here a phonetic transcript is used to name the fish species in Punong language. 63 O Kanong and O Poa have all kinds of fish. Not though the ponds. Fish feed on water grass and algae. 51 Scientific Khmer Punong Remarks name name64 name65 Lobocheilos [no Khmer quadrilineatus name in Rainboth 1996] Genus Morulius Morulius Trey K’aek Ca Tokna:k In O Pórr, but not in O Chlong. Lives under big rocks and chrysophekadion feeds on algae and water weed. It stays in deep pools and does not migrate. Some fish as big as 1 kg. Fished with gillnet, castnet and natural poisoning. Genus Osteochilus Osteochilus hasselti Trey Króh Ca Cherr Everywhere Osteochilus waandersi Trey Króh Ca Klóng In O Pórr, O Kanong, O Chlong, O Rona. Small sized fish. Migrates and lays eggs here. Fished with gillnet, castnet and natural poisoning. Osteochilus waandersi Trey Króh Ca Klóng In O Pórr, O Kanong, O Chlong, O Rona. Small sized fish. Migrates and lays eggs here. Fished with gillnet, castnet and natural poisoning. Subtribe GARRAE Genus Crossocheilus Crossocheilus Trey Changwa Ca Ndrúng In O Pórr, O Kanong, O Chlong, O Rona. Eats water weed reticulatus Chunchuok and algae on the rocks. Fished with gillnet, castnet and natural poisoning (not with hook). Genus Eplazeorhynchos Epalzeorhynchos Trey Kuol Ca N'rúng In O Pórr, O Kanong, O Chlong, O Rona, not found in frenatum Chek recession ponds. Migrates like other fish, lays eggs up here. Feeds on rock grass and algae. Fished only with gillnet, castnet and natural poisoning. Genus Garra Garra fasciacauda Ca N’rrong Everywhere Family COBITIDAE Subfamily BOTIINAE Genus Botia Botia beauforti Trey Ca Loebmihárr In O Pórr, O Kanong, O Chlong, O Rona. Fished with Kanchrouk single hook, gillnet, castnet and natural poisoning Botia helodes Trey Ca Loebmihárr ibid. There are a lot in O Pórr and O Kanong Kanchrouk Chhnot Botia lecontei Trey Ca Loebmihárr In O Chlong, O Kanong, O Pórr. Migrates like other fish Kanchrouk and lays eggs up here. Feeds on worms, insects and Loeung hides under rocks. It is a very delicious fish because it has a lot of fat. Fished with hook, gillnet, castnet and natural poisoning. Botia modesta Trey Ca Loebmihárr In O Chlong, O Kanong, O Pórr. Migrates like other fish Kanchrouk and lays eggs up here. Feeds on worms, insects and Krohom hides under rocks. It is a very delicious fish because it has a lot of fat. Fished with hook, gillnet, castnet and natural poisoning. Botia morleti Trey Ca Loebmihárr In O Chlong, O Kanong, O Pórr. Migrates like other fish Kanchrouk or Ca and lays eggs up here. Feeds on worms, insects and Neanghach hides under rocks. It is a very delicious fish because it has a lot of fat. Fished with hook, gillnet, castnet and natural poisoning. 64 Mainly, maintaining orthography of Rainboth 1996 65 Punong language does not have a script. Here a phonetic transcript is used to name the fish species in Punong language. 52 Scientific Khmer Punong Remarks name name66 name67 Subfamily COBITINAE Genus Acanthopsoides Acanthopsoides [no Khmer Ca Chóat In O Kanong. Stay in sandy underground, can dig under delphax name given in sand very quickly. Caught only by water pumping in dry Rainboth season or with scooping baskets (chneang), not wit hooks 1996] or gillnets. Difficult to get with natural poisoning because it hides under the sand and in holes in the rocks. Genus Acantopsis Acantopsis sp.1 Trey Ruchek Ca Choit In O Kanong, O Pórr, but not in O Chlong. It lays eggs Acantopsis sp.2 Trey Ruchek Ca Choit here but it is not clear if it migrates or not. fished with lop and tru and mainly with natural poisoning. Family GYRINOCHEILIDAE Genus Gyrinocheilus Gyrinocheilus pennocki Trey Smok Ca Chórr In O Pórr, O Kanong, O Chlong, O Rona. One fish gets as big as 1 kg. Migrates and lives in small holes in the riverbank or rocks. Fished with gillnet, castnet and natural poisoning. Not fished with hook Order SILURIFORMES Family BAGRIDAE Genus Bagrichthys Bagrichthys Trey Chek Ca Yís In O Pórr, O Kanong. Only small size fish living under macracanthus Thom rocks. Fished with hook, castnet, gillnet and natural poisoinig. Genus Mystus Mystus filamentus Trey Tanel Ca Mbóng In O Kanong, O Pórr, O Chlong, but not in O Rona. Here it Or is not found in Trapeangs, in Koh Nheik it was fished also Ca Lang in trapeangs. Up to ½ kg big, has eggs in May. In rainy season only fished with hook, but not a lot. In dry season with gillnet, single hook and castnet and natural poisoning Mystus nemurus Trey Chhlang Ca Mbóng In every river Mystus singaringa Trey Kanchóh Ca Kráe: In O Pórr, O Kanong, O Chlong, but not in O Rona. Not in recession ponds. In Koh Nheik found in ponds. Migrates as other fish and lays eggs up here. Fished with hook, castnet, gillnet and natural poisoning. Family SILURIDAE Genus Ompok Ompok bimaculatus Trey Kromom Ca M'búel In O Pórr, O Kanong, O Chlong, but not in O Rona. Migrates and lays eggs up here. Found in recession ponds and in deep pools hiding under rotten tree stumps. Has a lot of eggs. Is not a very big fish and is caught more in dry season with hooks, castnets, gillnets and natural poisoning. Family PANGASIIDAE Genus Pangasius Pangasius Trey Ke, Trey Ca R'choeng In O Pórr, O Kanong, O Chlong. Migrates as the other fish conchophilus Pra Ke and lays eggs up here. Is not a very delicious fish. Fished with hook, castnet, gillnet and with natural poisoning it dies very quickly. Family BELONIDAE Genus Xenentodon Xenendoton cancila Trey Phoung Ca N'lai In every river. Fished only with natural poisoning 66 Mainly, maintaining orthography of Rainboth 1996 67 Punong language does not have a script. Here a phonetic transcript is used to name the fish species in Punong language. 53 Scientific Khmer Punong Remarks name name68 name69 Family MASTACEMBELIDAE Genus Macrognathus Macrognathus Trey Ca Cháet In O Chlong, O Pórr, O Kanong, O Rona rivers, but not in maculatus Kchhoeung trapeangs. Biggest fish is ½ kg. Migrates and lays eggs up here. Fished with castnet, gillnet and natural poison (although it takes time to die, does not die very quickly). It is easy to catch with single hook since it comes very fast to eat the worm bait. Macrognathus spp. Trey Ca Bae In O Pórr, O Chlong, O Kanong. Is bigger than Ca Cháet, Kchhoeung as big as 1 kg, Hides under rocks or under leaves on the bottom of the water and can dig under sand. Fished with hook, gillnets and natural poisoning. Genus Mastacembelus Mastacembelus Trey Ca Páeh armatus Kchhoeung Mastacembelus Trey Ca Kot In O Chlong and other rivers. Fished with natural erythrotaenia Kchhoeung poisoning. Phka Mastacembelus favus Trey Ca Chot or Ka In O Chlong, O Pórr, O Rona, O Kanong. When it is young Kchhoeung Páeh (unclear it has a different color than as an adult fish. Fished with name) hook and natural poisoning. Order PERCIFROMES Suborder PERCOIDEI Family CHANNIDAE Genus Channa Channa limbata Trey Ksan Ca N'yút In head waters of O Tru, O N'dong. Available during the (Channa orientalis) whole year in deep pools hiding under the rocks. Fished with hooks and water pumping in the dry season. Channa micropeltes Trey Diep Ca N'doit Ón In O Pórr only below the first down-stream waterfall (Leng (juvenile), Mahók). Sometimes this fish eat its own offspring. Fished Trey Chhdao with gillnet and most importantly with hook with small life (adult) fish as bait or worms, and natural poisoning. Channa lucius Trey Ca N'doit Ón In O Pórr, O Kanong, O Chlong, but not in O Rona and not Kanhchorn Krák in ponds. Fished with hook with life fish fingerlings, also Chey with castnet, gillnet and natural poisoning. Channa striata Trey Phtuok Ca N'kón In O Pórr, O Kanong, O Chlong, O Rona. Fished with (juvenile) hook and castnet. Natural poisoning does not affect it. Trey Róh (adult) Family NANDIDAE Genus Pristolepis Pristolepis fasciata Trey Kontróp Ca Krób In O Pórr, O Kanong, O Chlong, but not in O Rona. However, also in ponds. Some fish migrate, others don't migrate. Sept/Oct. down migration. Up-migration is not exactly known. Feeds on insects, shrimps and small fish. Fished with castnet, hook, gillnet and natural poisoning. Suborder GOBIOIDEI Family ELEOTRIDAE Genus Oxyeleotris Oxyeleotris marmorata Trey Damrey Ca Ondoit Onh In O Pórr. Migrates. Gets as big as 1 kg, has a lot of eggs. Eat its own offspring fingerlings. Fished in dry season with "bonkai" hook with small fish as bait (live bait fingerling of trey changva, trey chlang. Bait collected with scooping basket) 68 Mainly, maintaining orthography of Rainboth 1996 69 Punong language does not have a script. Here a phonetic transcript is used to name the fish species in Punong language. 54 Scientific Khmer Punong Remarks name name70 name71 Suborder ANABANTOIDEI Family ANABANTIDAE Genus Anabas Anabas testudineus Trey Kranh Ca Kranh In trapeangs in Keo Seima and a lot of them in Koh Nheik Srae Family BELEONTIIDAE Genus Trichogaster Trichogaster Trey Ca Changmat In O Pórr, but not in O Kanong or O Rona. Lives in deep trichopterus Komplienh pools, eats everything, migrates like other fish and is not Samrai very big. Family SILURIDAE Genus Wallago Wallago attu Trey Sanday Wallago leeri Trey Stuok or Trey Tuok Family CYPRINIDAE Tribe CATLINI Genus Catlocarpio Catlocarpio siamensis Trey Kolreang unidentified Trey Chóh Ca Chúrr Everywhere. Comes up in May/June to spawn here. In November migrate downstream Other aquatic animals identified by fishers in the study area are turtles as follows: Scientific name Punong name Batagur baska Cob Kraeng Callagur borneoensis Cob N’dak Cuora amboinensis Cob Ab Cuora trifasciata Cyclemys dentata complex Cob Rr’há:rhách Geoemyda spengleri Heosemys grandis Cob Kokol Hieremys annandalii Cob Rolung Notochelys platynota Trachemys scropta elegans Indotestudo elongate Cob H’kung Manouria emys Cob H’kung Amyda cartilaginea Cob Kapa: Note: According to WCS, some of the species identified by fishers seem to be highly unlikely to occur in the study area. Further surveying would be required. 70 Mainly, maintaining orthography of Rainboth 1996 71 Punong language does not have a script. Here a phonetic transcript is used to name the fish species in Punong language. 55 72 Remarks Not particularly hunted but caught with snares set hunted but caught with Not particularly Most delicious In dry season grass land is burnt down and as a con- season grass land is burnt down In dry Deer comes to eat young bamboo. People who don't bamboo. People who Deer comes to eat young sequence lizards are collected. Also dogs get them. sequence round. year have chamkar fields like to hunt the whole [Could not be clearly identified in Khmer or scientific [Could not be clearly names] cooked again. Then it is poison-free. river water, after delivery used as infusion for women People can only rokha and pon wood). (pon swa, collect this ant from the trees rotting on their own else field. chamkar land, not from somebody's around chamkar fields as protection measure D N O S J J A M (schematic) tle tle Rainy season rainfall Rainy COLLECTION OF FOREST PLANTS Products J F M A M F of sources food Annex 2 Seasonality Products J Young bamboo Young rattan Wild mango Kui fruit "Tumpeang bai chu" (k.) or "Lung dóng"(p.) Saumau prey Plae pniu Wild potatoe K'duoch Dom kóp cow COLLECTION AND HUNTING OF WILD ANIMALS Wild Soft shell tur Land turtles Monitor lizard Deer Donkau dueng anytime Hunted short of rice. dug out and eaten when Only into flowing Needs to be processed: cooked, put 2 days Also is put into rice wine. picked wood Tree, red wood; after clearing chamkar land Ant living in dead wood Water lizard Mouse deer Wild pig 56 Products J F M A M J J A S O N D Remarks Rainy season rainfall (schematic) AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES Cleaning land for rice Up-land rice broadcasting Rice harvest Corn harvest Banana harvest After planting they have to wait 7-8 month for 1st harvest Vegetables (cucumber, pumpkin) Cashew nut harvest Preparation of new Before preparing new chamkar land take one month 57 chamkar land rest after rice harvest. cut small trees cut big trees burn branches start planting 72 According to accounts from WCS and its patrolling teams lizards are mainly caught in the early wet season. ANNEX 3 FISHING GEARS73 Essentially, a fishing gear and its use rep- Most frequently, they are used as surface resent a decision of the fisher. This deci- nets in calm waters in recession ponds or sion is made up by local knowledge and in river bows when it does not rain. Only perceived needs. On the one side the fish- in deep pools they are sometimes used as er puts into practice his (traditional) eco- bottom set nets. However, the fisher will logical knowledge about the fish habitats, need to assure that the net does not hook fish biology of the different species, their up on the rocky bottom. In larger deep feeding, and spawning and migration pools fishers may use bamboo rafts, com- behaviors in order to shape or select the posed of up to 20 bamboo poles, to gear to be used. On the other hand, the extent their nets diagonally across the fisher's decision takes into consideration river allowing a certain number of fishers his personal, family and community needs to cast their gear parallel to each others regarding household consumption, social nets, at a minimum distance of five obligations, cash income and barter oppor- meters. At the end of each net they use tunities. Needs are then matched with stones or wooden poles are used to fix local regulations (including respect to the the net at the river bank. spirits, taboos, communal fishing arrange- ments, etc.), and, where they are in The floating bamboo rafts only serve as place, laws and decrees formulated at a operating platforms. Usually, there is only national level (Deap et al. 2003). one such platform per deep pool. Even though the raft is constructed and Gillnets "owned" by an individual fisher, any other Until the introduction of nylon gillnets in fisher is entitled to use it whenever he the 1950s and early 1960s Punong peo- needs it. However, the constructor-owner ple used to weave their own gillnets from has the priority use-right and other fishers cotton and fibers twisted from "thmey" would need to the raft as soon as he plant. needs it. Today, nylon nets (together with hook As a light fishing gear, the gillnet is very and lines) are the most common gears and handy to be taken along during resin tap- quasi standard equipment of every (fish- ping trips, in particular it these trips imply ing) household in the whole river basin. In to stay over for one or more nights in the the study area mesh sizes of 1 to 2.5 forest. Before starting his tapping work inches are used most frequently. A set of the resin taper may set out a gillnet in a gillnet (called "dai") is commonly between nearby creek, and upon his return he will 12 and 25 meters long and 1 to 1.5 collect the catch. meters high. The inferior border of the gill net is strengthened with 2 mesh rows of At the lower O Pórr resin tapers from plastic meshes integrating small lead Snuol district in Kratie are reported to fish rings. intensively during most time of the year and process fish paste right at the spot. One fisher usually uses 3 to 4 dais of gill For this purpose couples undertake this nets separately. Gillnets are only used as type of resin-collection-cum-fishing opera- stationary nets, never as drift nets as tion together. While the man collects water currents would immediately entan- resin, the woman operates not only the gle the net and render it useless. gill net but may engage in fishing with hooks and set out traps. 73 The fishing gears documented here are partly historical gears or rarely used. 58 Hooks big fish species at the bottom of the Fish hooks are the second most common riverbed. fishing gear in the study area. Traditionally, they were fabricated by local Single hook set pole and line, called "dar- blacksmiths from pieces of iron. During rdorr", is used at the edge of rice fields the French protectorate, industrially made (Deap et al. 2003: p.76) and, alternative- hooks were introduced. They are being ly, at the edge of the river with soft earth- used as single hook attached to a fishing en riverbanks and calm water currents. rod, hand line, long line, and single hook set pole and line. A special application is "Santouch bonkai chro:m"74 . is a multiple the single hook line for eels. All hook hook set pole line. Basically, this gear con- gears are typically operated during the sists of a hand pole and a line, its length rainy season. depending on the depth of the water body where it is used, attached to it. On the The common single hook fishing rod, end of the line a small tree branch is fixed using hook numbers 7 to 12, is most carrying 5-6 drop lines (10-15cm long) widespread in the study area and largely, with one hook each. Usually, the gear is but not exclusively used by women and fixed at the fishing ground itself: the children. The most frequent bait are two branch has to be fresh, and it needs to be types of earth worms, locally called "bran- adapted to the specific fishing ground, lung phoi" and "branlung thang". Fish length of the line, the length of the pole caught with hooks are kchoeung, kchós, and the length of the drop lines need to be chhlang, kcheng, kanchós choa (most adjusted according to the shape of the important target fish for hooks), changva, branch selected. A sinker stone has to be kmagn, kontrop, ptuóh, mboung, taoun, selected according to the size of the kaháe, saka, chhpén, kró, andaing, ros, branch and the depth of the water body etc. (see Annex 1). that is being targeted, the stone has to compensate the buoyancy forces in the Traditionally, Punong fishers used to oper- given fishing situation (currents, size of ate eel hooks. After localizing an eel hole branch). in the riverbank just beneath the water surface the fisher pushed the eel hook The gear is used in January / February, with bait (worm) around 25cm into the eel preferably in deep pools where there are a hole. When he noticed that the eel took lot of rocks, and during night time. The on the bait hauling it deeper into the bot- fisher submerges this gear into deep pools tom of its hole he waited a prudential letting it down to the bottom of the pool. while until the eel was quiet, a sign that it All sorts of fish, hiding in between the was feeding on the bait. Then, with a sud- rocks are caught with this gear. den pull he hooked up the eel and pulled it out. This way of catching eels is not prac- The hook longline, called "rrúo:ng" is less ticed any more today, and the experts in frequently used in the study area. using this technique died already. Generally, it comprises between 20 and 30 hooks of size number 5 to 10. It is Rarely, hook hand lines are used without operated as surface long line along river rods. Only at high riverbanks close to deep banks and on the edge of recession pools or waterfalls they are appropriate as ponds. Fish catches are higher after rains they allow for easier handling of the hook. when fish is seeking feed in freshly inun- In the middle reaches of the Chlong river dated land. The gear catches basically the basin the fishing line with a big single same fish as single hook rod. hook (#2, #3 or #4) is attached to a tree Occasionally, also soft shell turtles get stem or branch at the riverbank targeting hooked up. Hook longlines are subject to borrowing procedures within villages. One 74 This gear does not have a specific Punong language name. It is also called "darrdorr". 59 third or one fourth of the catch will be used individually, the cast net -as is typical given to the owner of the gear if there is a for covering and lifting devices- is common- big catch. If the catch is just sufficient for ly operated in small groups. Three to four one meal of a family, the gear operator cast net fishers may collaborate together does not need to share part of his catch throwing their nets at the same time next with the owner. to each other trying to cover a larger area. Fishing success is higher than by individual A longline with multiple barbless rip-hooks cast net operations and fish catch is usually is used in deep pools that are covered by shared equally among the group members. trees and, thus, provide shady cool places The number of cast nets has been decreas- preferred by softshell turtles. The long line ing in the study area and elder people is fixed from a nearby tree to another knowing how to weave them are getting branch or tree at the opposite riverbank. scarcer. The reduced number of cast nets Around 30 barbless hooks (size Nr. 6) are has become subject to borrowing proce- attached to 15cm long drop lines each at a dures according to which the owner distance of 1cm to each other, in the mid- receives one fourth to one third of the fish dle of the long line. The fisher positions the catch and he is in charge of the mainte- hooks just below the surface water. Above nance of the gear. Usually, due to the the hooks a bait, such as a small dead ani- weight of the inferior chain, cast nets are mal, preferably a rotten cadaver of a dead operated by men; only in Pu Poanh a young dog, is hung up. Soft shell turtles, croco- woman is skilled in using it. It is used main- diles and water lizards jump out of the ly in the middle of the dry season or when water to set at the bait and their feet get whole schools of fish migrate up-stream. hooked up in the rip-hooks. This technique is claimed to have been introduced from The plunge basket is a typical low water Vietnam. fishing gear used most frequently in reces- sion ponds or in rivers in the dry season. Barrages Gears used in river are with a diameter of Formerly, small barrages seemed to have around 40cm is smaller than the common played an important role in the study area. plunge basket used in the rest of the coun- The size of the barrage corresponded with try. A smaller gear is easier to handle in the size of the stream to be fished. The stony riverbeds and transparent water barrage could be used with fish traps allows for targeting fish more precisely attached to the inner wall, or with bagnets, than in the muddy waters of swamps and or with a grid platform. They were set up ponds. at the early recession period from October to November. Informants suggest, that In ponds close to Sre Ampil and in the nowadays its use is rather limited, small lower reaches of the Chhlong river basin blocking devices made of palm leaves and the plunge basket is reported to be used in small bamboo fences are occasionally being communal fishing operations. In these used in small creeks in the headwaters for cases, long rows of fishers wade through a short period of time. the shallow ponds and all plunging the bas- ket into the mud at the same time. Fish In the middle reaches of the river basin it caught in the ponds are predominantly could be used until December. Barrage fish- "meat fish" such as trey róh, trey kranh, ing was the second most important source spiny eels and trey komplienh. of fish for fish paste production. Traditionally, the hand lift net was part of Covering and lifting devices the standard fishing out fit of each house- The cast nets used in the study area are hold. The smaller nets had a size of 1m x around 1.5m to 2m long, with a mesh size 1m with a mesh size of 1cm and the bigger of 1.5 cm and they generally do not have ones were 2m x 2m with a mesh size of capture pockets. Though it is occasionally 2cm and more. The net fibers used to 60 weave the net by hand were twisted from such as O Ngan, for a short period of time raw fibers of the stem of the thmey plant. (around 10 days) towards the end of the The opposite corner points of the square rainy season during the down migration of net were tightened with two equally long the fish. It is used where the river is not bamboo poles whose intersection was more than 2 m wide. anchored flexibly at a 2-3m long bamboo pole serving as a handle. BASKET TRAPS The net was operated by sinking the net Several basket traps, made from bamboo into the water with one hand and with slates and fixed with vines, were occa- stick in the other hand trying to scar the sionally used in the past in the study area. fish from their hideouts under vegetation. One horizontal cylinder trap, called Once a fish was spotted over the net area "pa:m", is equipped lateral entry cones. the net was lifted with a sudden move. Likewise, vertical vase traps, made of Sometimes, two people went together, bamboo wickerwork, called "paong" were one holding the net and the other scaring in use. The outer wall of the latter needed the fish. This gear was used only in shal- to be covered with buffalo dung before low waters (<1 m deep) when the water fishing, in order to prevent the termite bait stops flowing February-May. Fish caught from escaping. with this net was mostly scaly fish. Two types of cone traps were formerly The scooping basket is a special type of used in the study area. One trap, called lifting device. In contrast to the shovel- "sró:", was made of a big bamboo pole shaped "chneang" scooping basket wide- and the walls of wickerwork. At its wider spread in the rest of the country (Deap et end an entry cone was inserted. This cone al. 2003: p.16), in the study area a round trap was roughly 50-80 cm long. It was bamboo wickerwork basket with a diame- operated at the beginning of the rainy sea- ter of around 40 cm and a maximum son to catch up-migrating fish. When the depth of approximately 10cm is used to water currents became too fast its opera- scoop aquatic organisms from the riverbed tion needed to be suspended. It caught and in swamps. Usually, the operator mostly white fish or scaly fish and also shovels underground sediments, sand and trey andaing, trey chlang, trey changva gravel, by hand into the basket and with and trey ksa:n. shaking movements the sediment is sieved through at the water surface. Tiny Big wedge cone traps, called "brray", shrimps, small fishes and crabs hiding in could have a length of up to 4-5m long. the sediments are filtered out. Also they They were made of bamboo slates and may shovel the sediments on land to kept in cone shape by vines, leaving large search for the catch. The scooping basket openings for water to flow through and is used also to catch fresh bait for hooks. only big fish to be trapped. It was The scooping basket is only used by installed on the up-stream side of rapids women and children with boys older than linked on both sides to small stone walls 12 years stopping to use it. Often during channeling down-migrating fish into the rainy season they may take their scooping mouth of the trap. This trap operated with baskets along to their garden fields in the strong water currents and during the sec- forest and may use them to provide for ond half of the rainy season. The "brray" animal protein while staying out in the trap caught trey prolong (Ca wai), trey fields. chhkaok (Ca mae:), trey kchar (Ca korr), trey trosok (Ca 'rrpong). This gear is not used any more because there is no more GRID TRAP big fish as there used to be. There are only small grid traps, "n'dóh", used by Khmer people in small streams, Fishing by hand 61 Catching the fish or other aquatic produce ers, sometimes, use devices to attract and by hand is the simplest fishing techniques, concentrate fish. For example, they may used whenever possible. It is typical for use an old tree rotting in the water where catching of frogs. In Kati and Andong certain fish will feed on. Once a day, they Kroloeng administrative village, people go may pull it out of the water onto land frog hunting during the first 3 rains of the harvesting the fish hiding inside its holes. year using torch light at night time. Likewise, they may use bundles of Catches of up to 20 kg after the first rains branches. are not rare. The frogs are stored alive in sacks at home and consumed gradually. In In the deep pool M'ric in O Pórr river an O Am frog hunting is undertaken more American warplane went down. Today it regularly after rains and often constitutes serves as a FAD. Fish hides in the body of a source of cash income. Small frogs are the crashed plane and fishers use to fish also used as bait for hook fishing. with hook and lines next to it. Similarly, people catch crabs in the rice In the lower Chlong basin fishers use fresh fields or at the river banks or gather shells bamboo poles as FADs in deep pools to in shallow rivers. In dry season, some- attract and catch eels, trey kchhoeung. times people catch fish by hand in the The "bampong" is made of a fresh bam- small holes in the dried out riverbed. boo pole which is set out onto the rocky underground next to a deep pool securing it with a rope attached to a tree at the PUMPING OF SMALL RECESSION WATER riverbank. Trey kchhoeung feeds inside HOLES the pole and seeks shelter in it. The fisher At the end of the dry season, small reten- leaves the bampong for 3-4 days on the tion basins that are too small to invest bottom of the pool and then dives for it to labor in harvesting of fish poisons in the take it out. When he brings it up he has to forest are bailed out by hand or using san- put one hand onto the opening of the pole dals or small a "sáh" (a traditional back in order to prevent the eels from escaping. pack basket sealed off with natural resin). Sometimes two or three trey kchhoeung This fishing technique is usually undertak- may hide out in one "bampong". One en in small groups of friends or families. bamboo tube is only used during one fish- Mostly women and children participate in ing season (dry season). It is never taken this activity. out, but it has to be kept under the water permanently. The older it gets the more the eels will like it and hide in it. One fish- er may use as much as 30 tubes of bam- FISH ATTRACTING DEVICES (FAD) boo. In preparation of a fishing operation fish- 62 ANNEX 4 FISHING WITH NATURAL POISONS By far, the most important fishing method The use of natural poisons requires detailed in Punong villages has been, traditionally, knowledge about selection, preparation and fishing with natural poisons. This method mixing of natural poisons. Bio-chemically, has been critical for providing villagers with the poison affects the fish in that the fish's a big amount of fish in a short time allow- capacity to absorb oxygen from the water ing them to make fish paste, locally called is being reduced, thus producing a sort of "kaó:m". Fishing with natural poisons is asphyxiation (Degen 1990). Contrary to the part of the cultural heritage of the Punong. associations produced by the term Commonly, the use of this method is local- "poison"75, this method is rather selective, ly regularized and requires the consent of since different species react in different the spirits and a well organized larger group ways to the different natural poisons used of people to cope with the multiple tasks. in the area. Table: Natural plants used for fish poisons: Name76 Scientific functional Remark name77 part of plant Treang Corypha sp. fruit The outside cover of the fruit serves as fish poison and the inside of the fruit and sprouts for thatch- es, hats, mats and for writing "satras" (khmer reli- gious texts) Pó:m ? whole plant he whole plant is chopped into pieces Wapó:m ? Only affects scaly fish The bark and wood of young trees are scraped with bark and Choe Ploeung ? a knife then soaked in water. Too long contact wood with this poison irritates the skin and may peel off Knhaik ? whole plant Considered a strong poison and very effective Sombó Popé:l ? bark Sophí: ? bark Momeang ? bark Momeang is also used as medicine Leveang só: ? bark Pchek ? bark Barringtonia Young leaves are eaten as salads. Bark is also effec- Reang bark spp. tive medicine against fever, paludism and diarrhea. Kontrop ? roots Teing ? roots R'teing ? roots Thmor rot ? vine Volán vine Chwá: vine Has a lot of thorns Vonlón bark of vine Vol chvea bark of vine Kandal ? bark and roots 75 The Khmer term "thnám" can mean both, poison and medicine. 76 These are names of plants recorded from a variety of different informants. It could not be established, at this stage, if some of the names recorded are used for the same plant or if different plants might be reported under the same name. 77 Dy Phon (2000) reports 16 plants used for fish poisons giving the scientific names for all of them. However, only two of the 20 fish poisons, recorded in this study (above) are listed in Dy Phon 2000. It remains unclear, whether different names are given for the same plant or the same name may refer to different plants in different places. 63 Environmentally, natural poisons seem to be harmless, since they naturally degrade Fishing operations with natural poisoning and lose their effectiveness within 24 Within Punong culture, the use of natural hours. Snakeheads and most catfish poisons has been well regulated and used species, crustaceans and amphibians in a way that allows not only for high fish remain unaffected by the natural sub- yields in a short period of time but also for stances, as do human beings. strengthening village cohesion by sharing the fish within the community. The deep pools Each village recognizes a number of differ- In the study area, natural fish poisons are ent individual deep pools they can fish with used exclusively in the dry season in deep natural poisons close to their village. pools of the rivers and rarely in recession Villages in the headwaters, Pu Poanh and ponds. The deep pools selected for fish poi- Pu Chu only have access to smaller deep soning are at that time disconnected from pools or will need to travel larger distances the river flow and form a species of oxbow to access bigger pools for this activity. ponds. Fish that didn't make it into the deeper waters down-stream is trapped in Annex 7 presents a list of 85 deep pools the closed off deep pools up-stream. that have been recorded in the study area Ideally, these deep pools are fished with and the larger river basin : Fish caught in poisons as soon as they are disconnected these pools is very diverse depending on from the flowing river water before "natu- the timing and location of the fishing ral" fish mortality starts depleting the ground. In general, the higher up the deep trapped fish. Different fish species may pools are located in the Chhlong river prey down the food chain within the basin78 the smaller are the pools and, con- enclosed water body as well as by water sequently, the size of the group needed to birds, otters, snakes and water lizards fre- fish them. In the lower part of the middle quenting these welcome feeding places. reaches and the lower reaches of the Chhlong river basin deep pools are bigger Rules of conduct for fish poisoning: and a larger workforce is required to fish while digging up Knhaik roots people are not allowed to them successfully. Also, as the river does touch anybody's hand or shoulder. people cannot speak to anybody from another village not dry up in the lower reaches and oxbow when you beat up the poison, girls cannot be dressed up (nicely); women cannot dress sexy, are not allowed to pools are no common feature there, several wear earrings interconnected deep pools can be fished The old people, when they saw the kids playing around, they got upset and hit them strongly. That was the way using up-stream and down-stream enclo- to keep the poison strong. sure devices like barrages or stop nets that people cannot joke around while beating up the poison, can not flirt among each other (if they would the Chás may or may not include basket traps or grid Srok would beat them) traps. girls cannot stand with both hands in the hips (they have to behave serious and sit around like old people, if they do not behave properly the Chás Srok fines them, he may throw the girl into the trap or beat her until it hurts. 78 This list only reflects the results of research activities in the study area and the short Chhlong basin survey and is believed to be incomplete. However, most important deep pools might be recorded. 64 A typical fishing operation requies a series of coordinated steps as follows Monitoring and In dry season water is clear and transparent. The Chas Srok or elders may 1 identification go and check out the amount of fish in the deep pools in the river, starting of suitable withtheir favorite deep pool. Also they will realize if some of the deep pools deep pool arealready fished by neighboring villagers. Select the pool with most fish in it. Usually, elders discuss within the village their observations and also consult with younger fishers or resin tapers who might have visited different rivers in more distant areas. In any case the final decision reflects a communal judgment regarding the most convenient deep pool to fish. Usually, one village has its preferred deep pools they fish every year. Additionally, drawing on the experience of the elders and experi- enced fishers the amount of fish poison to be used needs to be established. This depends on the type of natural poisons to be used. Different poisons have different effects on fish and their plants may be more readily available Decision-mak- 2 in different years. Some villagers reported that they never mix different poi- ing sons together, in other villages this is not conceived as an obstacle. Only, it is more difficult to calculate the exact amount of the poison plants when more than one plant is being used. Finally, a judgment is made about the minimum number of participants. This implies considering the invitation of neighboring villages to participate.In larger fishing operations, as reported from the lower Chlong river basin, the Me Kontreanh of Plás Andong village invited the Chas Sroks of another 9 villages belonging to the same com- mune. These big operations required a considerable organization and delega- tion of responsibilities among participating villages. Once the decision about the fishing operation with natural poison is made the decision-makers spread the voice in the village. Each household needs to know how many bundles of poison they have to collect before the indicated Information to 3 day of fishing. In case one or more neighboring villages are invited the Chas participants Srok (or his assistant) informs the other Chas Srok(s) who disseminate(s) the information in their respective village(s). In bigger operations like in Plás Andong the amount of poison was calculated in oxcart loads. The collection of the required type and amount of natural poison is a highly responsible task. If the fishing operation is organized within one village certain flexibility could be given to the timing of the collection and, if need be, the fishing operation can be postponed. If several villages are involved the collection Collection of of the plants has to be accomplished according to schedule since the failure 4 natural poisons in commitment of one village would jeopardy the whole fishing operation. in the forest The collection of natural poisons was organized by groups heading in different directions of the forest. Sometimes, also they formed groups for collecting specific poisons. For example groups for knhaik and other groups for treang poison. In bigger operations groups were formed by oxcart loads, each oxcart comprising 4-5 poison collectors. Only for the operation of bigger pools, or several interconnected pools in the lower reaches, special groups had to be formed to secure the fishing area with small stone dikes up-stream and bamboo barrages (thnuos) or stopnets Securing deep 5 down-stream. The barrages usually contained basket traps on the inner wall pool or grid platforms where the fish would strand up. Stop-nets comprised bagnets. These groups operated at the same time when other groups collect natural poisons. 65 In different villages a small spirit ceremony was held before the spreading of the natural poison into the water, mainly in the middle and lower reach- es of the river. In some village this was the only spirit ceremony held dur- 6 Spirit ceremony ing the operation, in others this was the first of two ceremonies. The spirit ceremony at this time of the operation had two functions: (1) request per- mission for fishing and (2) promise the spirit that after a good fish catch peo- ple will provide him with fish. The preparation of the plants containing fish poison aims at improving the possibility to wash out the relevant substances in the most effective way. Thus, the technique being used depends on the natural product being used. All bark, root and small stems or branches and vine products are cut into small pieces or stripes, fruits are cut into halves and "choe ploeung" wood is shaved over a knife that is fixed between two supporting poles. Once Preparation and the plant products are prepared, people aggregate around the deep pool in 7 application of regular distances and pound the pieces of plants on big stones at the edge fish poison of, and if possible, inside the water. After beating them up sufficiently the pieces of plants or fruit and leave mass is distributed under strong move- ments into the water. This activity is undertaken by both, men and (non- pregnant) women at the same time. Once all the poison is spread into the deep pool people have to wait until the first fishes appear "tumbling" around on the water surface. This can take between one and a half to up to two or three hours. The first fish to appear on the water surface are small white fish species. When the first bigger fish surfaces it is caught and the Chas Srok or an elder in charge of leading the fishing operation sacrifices this first big fish to the spirit of the pool requesting a big fish catch from him. At the same 8 Spirit ceremony time this ceremony marks the beginning or the communal fishing in the pool. While the elders pray and drink alcohol all the others can start fish- ing. This type of spirit ceremony was not found in the headwaters but more in the middle reaches in Snuol district, Kratie. As soon as the fish starts surfacing people try to catch the fish with their bare hands, scooping baskets and any kind of bamboo baskets they may Collection of 9 bring along for this purpose. In the old days they also used hand liftnets, fish communally which are not anymore in use today. Some fish die quicker than others and once they died they will sink down to the bottom of the pool. The fish caught in this phase belongs to the community. All the fish is gath- ered in one pile separated into small fish and big fish. Each participant fami- ly as well those, that couldn't participate in the operation, do receive an Distribution equal share of the catch. Often widows or sick persons or elderly couples 10 of fish that could not participate get their equal share. Small fish is distributed by number of full plates and the big fish by units. Generally, elder women were in charge of distributing the fish evenly among the participants and those socially entitled to it. In the headwaters of Chhlong river this spirit ceremony is sometimes the only one to be held. In other occasions it is one of two sacrifices given to the spirits. While the first served to request permission from and/or promise a share of the catch to the spirit, this ceremony is to thank him for allow- 11 Spirit ceremony ing him to harvest the fish they finally got. After having distributed the fish evenly to all participants, also the spirit gets its equal share. The Chas Srok, if present, or one of the elders participating in the event leads the ceremony, particularly the praying. 66 During the preceding ceremony, most women are busy with preparing the meal for the whole crowd of people. With the final meal for everybody the fishing operation culminates in a party-like event. Until the 1960s, in the middle reaches of Chhlong river these events reached expressions of parish fair shared by up to nine villages and hundreds of people. Enjoyments such 12 Meal as oxcart races and buffalo races were integral part of it. These parties were the biggest "regional" events celebrated among Punong villages in that area. The yearly ceremony for the village guardian spirit was limited only to one's particular village. After the party part of the people will go back to their village(s). Generally, one person per family hangs on at the deep pool up to one or two days after the communal meal the fishing ground was "declared" open for everybody. As mentioned earlier, different fish species do react in different ways to the asphyxiating substances of the natural plants. Some are affected earlier, others later, some remain virtually unaffected. Some fish Open access 13 may die after hours or even half a day. For this reason the remaining fishers fishing try to collect the gradually surfacing fishes. At night, those fishes that die do sink to the bottom surface and people dive after them on the next morn- ing. This fish, though it is in process of rotting, is claimed to be still suitable for being processed into fish paste. Each individual fisher remains with his catches. Fresh fish is pre-processed right on the spot after the communal fishing operation in order to reduce the transport burden on the way back. The main propose of using natural fish poisons is the processing of fish. Within a relatively short period of time people can harvest a sizable amount of fish making the effort of processing "kaóm" worthwhile. From the old days peo- 14 Fish processing ple report fish yields of 20-30 kg per family. Today, if still practiced, one family may go home with 3-5 kg at the most.In the middle reaches, people claim that in the old days they only used a modest dosification of fish poi- son in order to affect only the small fish to make fish paste. They were not interested in the big fishes since they were caught, preferably, with hooks and were not that suitable for making "kaóm". Apart from the big communal and inter-communal fishing operations with nat- ural poisons there are in sometimes also smaller groups, of two to four people, who may use natural poisoning in smaller reten- tion basins that are too big to pump out but far too small to organize a mayor com- munal fishing event. Sometimes, also chil- dren may experiment and play fishing with natural poisons in larger puddles in rivers or recession ponds. 67 ANNEX 5 HABITATION OF IMPORTANT SPIRITS Village[origin Name Name Deep River Name of spirit Hill of information] of River of Waterfall pool stretch Pu Poan N'det O Kérr D Pu Poanh Yo:k N'gwait D Pu Poanh Brrou O Kameng Brrou D Pu Chu Loeu Mborr O Kameng Mborr D Pu Chu Loeu Brráh Ca N'yút O Chlong D Andong Kroloeng Krring O Pórr Krring Pu Rung Brráh Plai O Pórr D Pu Rung Brráh L'ho:ng Pórr O Pórr D Pu Rung Chong O Pórr Chong D Pu Rung N'lang O Pórr N'lang D Pu Rung Klá O Pórr Klá D Pu Rung Chú: O Pórr Chú: D Pu Rung Peam Tra:ng O Pórr D Pu Rung Ping Peam Ngoi O Pórr D Pu Rung Kraeng D Pu Rung Kung Trek D Kati Kwai Teng D Daem Beng Theng Dao O Tron Theng Dao O Tron Ta Changva D Sre Ampil Keo Seima D Sre Ampil Cho:p O Chlong D Sre Ampil Brráh Bombót D Sre Ampil Brráh Brei D O Am Memlo:m D O Am Krolmahá: D O Am Sa:t O Pam D O Am Chung O Pam D O Am Mót O Pam D 68 ANNEX 6 IMPORTANT WATERFALLS (LENG) Village River Waterfall Spirit Fishing activity Remark Pu Poanh O Kerr R'tok Yes No O Kerr Chiving O Pel Pean Pé:n O Ronás Yerr 20 m high Tol D 20 m high Tok D 5 m high O Romanh Romanh D 10 m high This waterfall is also Pu Chu O Pórr Kláng D D accessed by people from Pu Poanh 3 m high; spirit is O M'pel M'pel D D called "Bong Bot" 20-30 m high; accessed by people O Ngeun Kao D from Pu Poanh and Pu Chu O Pórr Kwang Praeh D 40 m high O Kameng Brrou Fished with scooping O Ngeun Wat D D basket There is a 50m high cavern; it is believed in the deep pool lives O Kerr N'dét D s large mammal look- ing like a bat and drinking human blood. Has a whirl pool and two down-stream Pu Rung O Pórr Me:t D D pools like Leng Mahouk Andong O Pórr Krring D D Kroloeung O Chlong Kok 5 m high O Chlong Tet 5 m high O Chlong Trik D 35 m high O Chlong Pot D 45 m high O Chlong M'lok 5 m high Strong whirl pool; nobody goes fishing Roka Thmei O R'tao Cherr D D there. There are croco- dilesand a strong spirit Waterfall, 10 m high, has 2 pools, only one of the can be fished. Pu Char O Pórr Maho:k D D Both have a spirit. The one with the stronger spiritcannot be fished 69 At waterfall At waterfall lot of rocks on the bottom surface, irregular very pools in O Chlong, Pórr, Kameng Remark The pool is not fished at all; it has a strong spirit very No At waterfall waterfall At natural poisons poisons Fished with Yes more there a no crocodiles any Now, * before) ( Crocodiles Spirit Width 81 Length 5 4 2 waterfall At 5 Size of Pool (m) Depth Name of Deep Pool N’lang M’hok KlahChuhPeam Trang M’hok CharrR’lengPeam BrroMukang 5 3Loat 3Brah 30m diameter Chengung 25 35 30 Tol 4 Blúk 40 20 1.5 2 30 2 25 20 20 50 70 40 Difficult to fish because there are a pool Shallow Chrung 3 20 50 82 River O Chlong O O Chlong O Ngeun O Ngeun O Ngeun O Pam O Porr O Porr O Porr O Pam O Chlong O Porr O Ngeun A. Kroloeng village accesses deep Romanh O Ngeun O Chlong Wach ? 1000 20 80 (Kati) Annex 7 Important deep pools in Chhlong river basin Village N’toch Pu Poanh O Ronás Chichoul Pu Chu Andong O Kerr Kroloeng O Kameng N’det 5 Brrou Pu Rung O Porr O Porr 4 Chong 1.5 Kati 1.5 5 20 25 15 16 [O Kanong] (Kati) O Am O Pam Mót 5-6 8 25 spirits There are no pools with 70 Village River Deep Pool Size of Pool Spirit Crocodiles Fished with Remark natural poisons Depth Length Width Yes No O Pam Kae O Pam Redó O Pam Chong O Pam Saat O Am Traang O Am is tributary of O Chlong OAm Sóng OAm Chravángn Sre Ampil O Chlong Kam Ot 8 O Chlong Chop 3 Has a very strong spirit that can be nasty if you don’t respect him O Chlong Tam 2-3 40 O Chlong Cho: One of the favorite deep pools O Chlong Kayorr 10 200 Very important deep pool. Also people from Srae Khtum fish here 71 O Chlong Peam Kanorr 10 There are a series of smaller pools fished with natural poisons by groups of children or families. Peam Kamót 10 O Mahoach [in Kratie Chlong Rochaechong Very Fished in the old days among 4 province deep villages (Pu Trom Loeu, Chnaeng, Thnaot and Pu Trom Kraom) Ksim Chlong Treang Pao / Chuo Dei Só: O Pórr Pao / M’ric 12 100 Crocodiles breed there. American O Pórr airplane fell into this pool during war. Pao / Peam Kao 6-7 >1 km Located down-stream from Peam O O Pórr Kao Rona: At O Rona there are also deep pools reported, names not known Village River Deep Pool Size of Pool Spirit Crocodiles Fished with Remark natural poisons Depth Length Width Yes No Samrong Chlong Mahan Sar 6 70 Up-river Water flowingdown-stream Chlong Thmat 7 200 Chlong Pemét Ta Prum 7 100 Chlong Sapring 8 100 Bridge over Preik Chlong, road between Snuol to Kratie Chlong Peakdao 6 100 Chlong Taháem 6 1000 Chlong Treang 12 100 Chlong Chumnús Srok 6 60 Chlong Ktao 9 80 Down-river Chlong Veng 12 1500 this pool is boundary between Samrong and Svay Chreach district. There is an airplane that fell during the American war into it. Rumpok Chlong Trolop 72 Chlong Takaul 11 Chlong Peak Hol Chlong Treang Chlong Sandán Chlong Srae Po:n Chlong Tuok Chlong Apót Chlong Levean have one spirit together, when Chlong Kéh >12 600 poisoning, thus people only make one spirit ceremony Chlong Samrong Chlong Talauk 8 is round and has a crocodile; has spirits Chlong Kahé 14 30 Chlong Kantuet 7 100 Chlong Poa Chlong Da rapids Important landmark, because here people can cross the river. Fished with gillnets for trey changva Chlong Rung 5 50 Chlong Svay 5 250 Chlong Chhdao 5 50 Chlong Phum 5 300 Village River Deep Pool Size of Pool Spirit Crocodiles Fished with Remark natural poisons Depth Length Width Yes No Chlong Trolop 5 200 Chlong Kanchae 5 400 Chlong Slaeng 3 Chlong Baksao 7 1000 Srae Char Chlong Repeang Chlong Thmor Kong Veal Chlong Peam Dóh 3 Up-stream Konsaing Kuoong Chlong Peam Boeung Kaek Chlong Kamponhg Choeng Ko These are the Chlong Sambour pools villagers Chlong Ta Pouv from Veal Chlong Mean Konsaing would 73 Chlong Sdey be entitled to Chlong Chuo Knaich fish Chlong Preik Toan Tim Chlong Samrong Chlong Vil Chlong Chhmar Chlong Thmor Krä: Down-stream Srae Triek Chlong Samrét 6 Chlong Chuor Veng 8 Kampong Chlong Don Daok 25 30 Trey tuok is regularly caught with Srae gillnets. Boeung Kiep Chlong Russei 10 The first deep pool in Chlong river from down-stream 80 The village name indicates the village where the name of the deep pool was recorded. It does not necessarily mean that the named village has exclusive use rights to the deep pool recorded. It only reflects the knowledge of the informant who provided the information. ANNEX 8 IMPORTANT PONDS (TRAPEANGS) Village PondsTrapeang Spirit Yes No Remark Pu Rung Heav D Mbén D Ngav Khla: D Ngav Mén Dub D Pu Trum Kraom Chó:k D Does not dry out in dry season Daem Beng Theng Dao D Sre Ampil Pil D Pach D Keung D Kruoh D Chok D Spirit ceremony Thomnah D Peouv D Veng D Da D Kamlao D Saeng D Spirit ceremony Rongko D Kranh Hae D Spirit ceremony Lapatchak D Doich D Pealpa D Ravdav D Dooichmae D Choan D Yongpung D Water reservoir from Pol Pot Tumnup Sre times, 1 km long dike; D Ampil important fishing ground as long as it contains water O Rona Plauk O AmPaé Around 50 ha surface area Damrey Biggest pond in the O Am area Labaké Phalla In dry season it is a swamp area Mariúng Are connected to each other Avreyong Kranh Chnaeng Darr D Does not dry out in dry season Séng D Does not dry out in dry season Never dries out. During D American war a helicopter was shot down here. Choeung Choe Daem D 74 Pram Bat D Alinh D Chhmúk D Roleang D D Srae Triek Smaonh Toit D Smaonh Thom D Chhuar D Ryok D Balang Toit D Balang Thom Is not fished at all because it is located in midst of the forest; too many stumps and wood Kantéh D Ting Kambot D Roengok D Pouch D 75 WCSCAMBODIA PROGRAM