WorldFishCenter/cambodian-fish-refuges 1.0

Retention of aquatic biodiversity in a mixed-use agroecosystem in Cambodia

This repository contains data and code to analyse catch and biodiversity patterns from the Community Fish Refuges in Rice field Fisheries.

Inland fisheries of the southern Mekong basin are some of the largest in the world and are crucial to household food and nutrition security throughout the region. These fisheries rely on a bimodal seasonal inundation of monsoon rains that reconnect isolated water bodies and their fish populations. However, water infrastructure developments and climate change represent significant threats to the reliability and effect of this annual flood pulse, driving negative impacts on aquatic biodiversity and biomass. Augmentation and management of natural and artificial dry season habitats as community fish refuges (CFRs) have been trialled in Cambodia since 2005 as a way of maintaining biomass and biodiversity of wild aquatic species. Large spatio-temporal variations in the biodiversity and biomass of assemblages are expected in flood pulse systems, however there is still little understanding of the drivers of this variation with which to guide further development interventions around rice field fisheries conservation and livelihoods. Using quarterly fisheries independent catch surveys and biological monitoring at 40 CFRs in Cambodia from 2012 to 2015, we evaluate the effectiveness of CFRs at retaining biomass and biodiversity through the dry season to guide development, conservation and fisheries strategy.