Officials to meet on Mekong crisis as fishing communities suffer

On Cambodia’s Tonle Sap, record low water levels have plunged fishing communities into crisis but with warnings of “severe drought”, there are concerns the situation will get even worse.

“Every day we can only find about one or two kilogrammes (two or four pounds) of fish, and you can see there are many people in the family,” fisherman Lay Non said, explaining that just last year their catch was still coming in at about 10 kilogrammes (22 pounds). “How can we feed everyone?”

While the catches have steadily declined over the past years, the 63-year old said, this year was worse than any year since he started as a fisherman when he was a teenager.

Keep reading

Leonie Kijewski