Cambodian fishermen turn to raising eels as Tonle Sap lake runs out of fish
Fishermen in Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater fishery, the Tonle Sap lake, hope that raising eels will help them adapt to new realities stemming from climate change and environmental damage
KAMPONG PHLUK, Cambodia (AP) — Em Phat, 53, studies his eel tanks with the intensity of a man gambling with his livelihood.
For millennia, fishermen like him have relied on the bounty of the Tonle Sap in Cambodia, Southeast Asia’s largest lake and the epicenter of the world’s most productive inland fishery. But climate change, dams upstream on the Mekong River that sustains the lake, and deforestation in the region have changed everything.
There aren't enough fish and living by the lake has become dangerous as storms intensify due to global warming. “Being a fisherman is hard,” he said.
Phat hopes that raising eels — a delicacy in Asian markets like China, Japan and South Korea — will provide a way forward. He raises eels in different tanks: translucent eel eggs bob gently in Small glass aquariums. Voracious glassy larvae swim in plastic tanks. Larger tubs have bicycle tires to provide places for juvenile eels to hide.
