View the complete CCRN’s Koh Sralao Community Story as a PDF

Furqan Asif, Jason Horlings and Melissa Marschke

Key Messages

• The Koh Sralao community work together to safeguard their mangrove forests which form a critical link to their livelihood.
• Community activism concerning coastal resource management issues and resistance to sand dredging contributed to the termination of nearby dredging activities.
• The development of a Special Economic Zone in the provincial capital has provided valuable economic opportunities for young women, contributing to livelihood diversification.

 Community Profile

Figure 1: Map showing select fishing villages including Koh Sralao (bottom right) in relation to Koh Kong town and the SEZ. Map: Google (modified by Furqan Asif).

Koh Sralao is a small 300 household mangrove-estuarine fishing village on the southwestern coast of Cambodia (Figure 1), approximately 22 km from the provincial capital Koh Kong. The village is accessible only by boat. Given the remote nature of the community, most goods and products need to be shipped in and out.

Villagers rely heavily on the marine environment, with fish making up the bulk of their dietary protein. The local marine resources have been the source of sustenance and livelihood for many decades. Although the main activity is crab fishing, a diversity of fishing activities are found, including green mussel culture, shrimp and grouper fishing⁽⁶⁾.

Local fishers use mechanized boats and gill nets or crab traps to harvest the marine resources in and around the mangrove estuarine area, or within a few kilometers of the coastline.  Households work together, with men (sometimes with their wives) going out to fish daily or spending a few days on their boats and women sorting,  processing  and  selling  aquatic   products to   a   handful   of  local  traders  (aquatic  products typically go to the provincial town, and then may move to Cambodia’s capital or into Thailand).

However, sustaining a small-scale fisheries livelihood is challenging⁽⁵⁾ and livelihoods have diversified within and beyond the village. For example, households may have family members working (temporarily or permanently) in construction or factory jobs.  While this work has typically been in another province, in Cambodia’s capital or in Thailand, there are now wage-labour opportunities particularly for young women in the provincial capital at the Special Economic Zone (SEZ), near the border with Thailand.

Conservation and Livelihood Challenges

Declining fish populations

Figure 2: The sun sets on houses at Koh Sralao coastal fishing village in Cambodia (Photo: Furqan Asif)

Fishers have spoken about fish declines for decades⁽⁵⁾ and continue to be concerned about fish stocks. The observations made by Koh Sralao fishers are consistent with statistics for the Gulf of Thailand which shows a dramatic decrease in catch per unit effort (an indirect measure of fish abundance) over the past decades.

The declines observed in Koh Sralao‘s aquatic resources may be due to a number of different factors. Fishers have observed an increase in foreign fishing vessels in the nearshore area. Thai fishing vessels may have moved into Cambodian waters as a result of Thailand’s fisheries reform⁽⁹⁾.  Fishers also talk about the impacts of climate change on aquatic resources.  Although the direct effects of climate change on fisheries in Koh Sralao are not yet clear, it seems that rains are less predictable, and storms may be more frequent. Ocean warming may be impacting fish migration routes and reproduction⁽⁸⁾.

Sand dredging

In addition to the persistent decline in catch, sand dredging, which began in the Koh Sralao area in late 2007, has had an impact on the aquatic resources surrounding the Koh Sralao community (Figure 3). The short term impacts of this dredging are clear⁽⁵⁾:

• Fish habitat is being destroyed. Dredging deepens shallow channels, impacting fish and other aquatic habitat in the process.
• Fish migration routes are being disturbed, and the water is said to be more turbid.
• Boats have been dredging near the edge of the mangroves, partially damaging some trees and completely ripping out others.

Community Initiatives

Koh Sralao is a village with a history of community organization around resource management⁽⁵⁾. This means that villagers have been able to organize formally but also use informal channels to express their concerns.

Figure 3. A barge carrying sand from sand mining operations in Koh Kong (Photo: Furqan Asif)

Sand dredging

Villagers have been concerned about the sand dredging since it began in 2007, and have been involved in protests, public consultations and meetings with sand dredgers.  At one point the sand dredging came within eyesight of Koh Sralao, which mobilized villagers yet again. The Koh Sralao community has received support from NGOs, including an activist NGO that initiated an anti-sand mining campaign in 2015.

Mangrove conservation

The Koh Sralao community has worked together to safeguard their natural environment. They have become aware of the importance of conserving the mangrove forests that form a critical link to their livelihood. For example, annual mangrove replanting has become a community tradition since the late 1990s. The area is known for its mangroves which span 23,750 hectares in a protected area and features an ecotourism site set up near the Peam Krasop community.

Livelihood diversification

Households have responded to marine resource degradation by shifting livelihood activities within and beyond the village, with regional factory wage work emerging as another diversification strategy.  It is predominantly young women in Koh Sralao that go to work at the Koh Kong SEZ located near the provincial town, since SEZ factories mainly hire women between the ages of 18 to 25⁽⁷⁾.  However, there is no maternity leave for women, and it is difficult for them to return to the SEZ after the age of 28.  Thus, while young women are gaining more opportunities beyond the fishing village, such gains are time-sensitive, and it is unclear how many young women may return to the village at another point in their lives.

Practical Outcomes

Sand dredging

One of the outcomes of the initial protests to the sand dredging was that the dredging activities moved to another area, out of sight of Koh Sralao. Even so, the community wanted the activity to stop altogether, since the negative impacts of the sand dredging continued to be felt. Community members worked with a local activist NGO, providing interviews to media and spearheading a social media campaign, to share the impacts of a decade of continuous sand mining on coastal livelihoods. In November 2016, the Ministry of Mines and Energy announced that they had halted sand dredging operations in Koh Kong, with a total ban on coastal sand dredging for export emerging in mid-2017⁽⁴⁾.

The ban on sand dredging is certainly welcome news to the villagers and for the conservation of the mangrove ecosystem. More broadly, this story not only highlights the challenges of natural resource-based livelihoods and the pressures that coastal communities face (shaped by socio-economic and political forces), but also the importance and impact of grassroots community activism for coastal ecological conservation.

Livelihood diversification

Local factory labour opportunities continue to provide a higher, more consistent income than would otherwise be the case for most young women in Koh Sralao. Women are sending remittances home, and for these households this is an additional source of income (even if time sensitive), all the more important given the challenge of small-scale fisheries livelihoods ⁽³⁾.  The longer term implications of such wage work, in the sense of helping to sustain coastal livelihoods and villagers’ well-being, remains to be seen.

References

Acknowledgements

Community Conservation Research Network

Saint Mary’s University

Halifax, Nova Scotia

B3H 3C3 Canada

Phone: 902.420.5003

E-mail: ccrn@smu.ca

View the complete CCRN’s Odisha Community Story as a PDF

Alex Zachariah-Chaligne,University of Manitoba; alexvzach@icloud.com

Key Messages   

• The Samudram Women’s Federation (SWF) monitors and protects the endangered olive ridley turtles through habitat restoration, artificial reef construction and sustainable fishing practices.

• The SWF is reducing the region’s poverty through income diversification, a financial literacy program and distributing low cost infrastructure and fishing equipment.

• The SWF is empowering woman through education, capacity building, training and networking.

Community Introduction

Odisha’s (Orissa) 482 km coastline has been blessed with abundant marine resources which support 38,000 small-scale fishers (Figure 1). The beaches in Odisha are largely sandy and are well known as “Arribada” beaches (Figure 2), where thousands of olive ridley sea turtles come every year to nest(1).

Figure 1: Map showing Odisha and the study area.

Conservation and Livelihood Challenges

Due to a number of factors, Odisha is one of the poorest states in India. The depletion of marine resources, annual cyclones and poverty cycles have forced many fishers to rely on illegal moneylenders and local traders, resulting in further indebtedness.

Figure 2: Mass nesting (arribada) of olive ridley turtles on the Odisha Coast, India.

Fishers are poor, marginalized and exploited by people from so-called “upper castes” who provide credit and charge high interest rates, typically close to 100% per annum(2). An additional challenge faced by the region’s fishers is government imposed fishing bans and restrictions which occur between February and May each year. The purpose of these bans is to protect the endangered olive ridley turtle during the peak nesting season. However, these actions inadvertently limit the earning capacity of small-scale fishing communities.

Community Initiative

The Samudram Women’s Federation (SWF) began in 1993 with 250 female members, as a response to conservation and livelihood challenges faced by the small-scale fishers. The SWF now has more than 5,800 members in 160 groups spread over 50 villages along the coast of Odisha. It is both a state level federation of women fish workers and a social enterprise. A key factor to its success, as recognized by the United Nations (2010 Equator prize), has been its joint focus on biodiversity conservation and community enterprise for poverty reduction. “Conservation is multidimensional and holistic, encompassing species, humans, environment and the whole biosphere” – Samudram’s view on Biodiversity Conservation.

The SWF fosters a holistic approach to conservation that is sensitive to local livelihoods and strives to achieve a balance between ecological conservation and social/economic goals. The presence of many complementary factors – economic, environmental, social and cultural – enables the Odisha fishing community to take up conservation and environmental stewardship.

Income Diversification

The SWF forms beach patrol groups with government conservation guards to monitor and protect olive ridley turtles during peak nesting periods. Since these periods coincide with the fishing restriction, beach patrols offer additional income.

Figure 3: Processed prawn pickle packets ready for the market.

Additionally, the Odisha Forest Department, and other research organizations, provide training in producing value-added marine products (Figure 3), and link the community with wholesale traders and exporters. The SWF provides low cost infrastructure and fishing equipment, and helps distribute relief supplies during cyclones. To address fishers’ dependence on money lenders and the ensuing poverty cycle, the SWF provides a financial literacy programme to encourage households to link up to mainstream banking and credit systems.

Empowering Women

The SWF created a platform for the voice of traditional women fishers to be heard. These women are empowered and made aware of their own rights, gaining improved self-esteem and dignity. Through collaborations, schools and adult education centres have been created. These resources have allowed members to improve their quality of life through education, increased literacy and better health practices. Exposure to mainstream media and institutions has boosted the confidence and pride of many traditionally disadvantaged women, allowing them to counter and question any law or system detrimental to their interests. “Being a Samudram member means being a vehicle of change in my community” – Samudram Member.

Community Conservation

Small-scale fishers have deep-seated beliefs about how to treat other living beings and their food basket, the sea. They see everything as a gift from Mother Ocean and ocean creatures such as turtles are seen as their brothers and sisters. Fishers take pride when thousands of turtles choose to return annually to their beaches to breed and nest and they take special care of these visitors (Figure 4). Beach patrols offer the community an opportunity to give something back to their Mother Ocean. “The health of the ocean is dependent on these turtles, if there are more turtles, the sea is healthy and there will be more fish” – Samudram Member.

Figure 4: Children holding the turtle hatchlings before releasing them into the sea.

The majority of households living on the coast self-identify as followers of the Hindu religion, where turtles are considered as one of the avatars of Lord Vishnu. Since Lord Vishnu is the preserver of life, some members of this community consider protecting turtles to be their responsibility. “Out of all the beaches, these turtles chose mine to lay their eggs. It means they trust us with their future and we are proud that they chose us and we make sure that we keep this trust” – Samudram Member.

Practical Outcomes

The Samudram Woman’s Federation is reducing poverty and protecting biodiversity through a number of different initiatives:

• Promoting the conservation of marine resources, and sustainable fishing practices to protect marine biodiversity.

• Linking economically marginalized fishing communities to wholesale markets and exporters.

• Generating income during fishing restriction periods through beach patrols and by selling value added and processed marine products (e.g. dry fish, pickles, papads).

• Gender empowerment through capacity building, training, knowledge dissemination and
networking.

• Community social development through building schools, health centres and organizing medical camps.

• Developing a community cooperative enterprise by providing social, financial and infrastructural support to local fishers.

References

1. Karnad, D., Isvaran, K., Kar, S.C. & Shankar, K. (2009). Lighting the way: Towards reducing misorientation of Olive ridley hatchlings due to artificial lighting in Rushikulya, India. Biological Conservation, 142(10): 2083-2088.

2. Nayak, P.K. & Berkes, F. (2010). Whose marginalization? Politics around environmental justice in India’s Chilika lagoon. Local Environment, 15(6): 553-567.

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank the following: The team of Samudram Women’s Federation and United Artist’s Association, Ganjam; Parvathy for her help in conducting and organizing interviews and group discussion, and being a great help as my interpreter; Mangaraj Panda and Govind Panda for their everyday help; The team at CBRM, Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba; Dr. Fikret Berkes for his timely advice and suggestions at every instance of the research; Durdana, Eranga, Ian, Dilbar and Alex for their help and support; and finally to all the fishing community in Nolianuagaon, Purnabandam, Arjyapally and Gokurkudham for allowing me to be a part of your community.

See below for the Odia language abstract for this community story.