KOH CHIVANG, Cambodia: As night falls over his floating village, fisherman Leng Vann smokes a cigarette and sighs for Tonle Sap, the great inland lake that has sustained Cambodia for centuries.
More than a million people live in or around the lake, the world’s largest inland fishery, but water levels have plummeted and fish populations have declined due to climate change and dams upriver on the Mekong.
Tonle Sap was once famous for its abundance of fish and wildlife: Leng Vann, 43, remembers catching hundreds of kilos a day in his nets.
His house, which floats on the lake, is 5 meters lower than it should be in mid-October, at the end of the rainy season, and when he takes his net out of the water, it is empty.
“We fishermen survive on water and fish. When there is no water or fish, what else can we expect?” Leng Vann said.
“Our future is dark,” he said, as he rowed his boat back to his modest home.
REVERSE FORTUNES
The lake, a world heritage ecological reserve, relies on an unusual seasonal change: in the dry season, it empties into the Mekong through a rapidly flowing river artery.
But when the rains come from May to October, the mighty Mekong is so powerful that the water flows backwards, filling the lake.
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Floating villages in Cambodia’s Tonle Sap have adapted to the ebb and flow of the lake for generations, but falling water levels and disappearing fish now threaten a traditional way of life. (Photo: AFP / Tang Chhin Sothy)
It swells more than four times its smallest size to 14,500 square kilometers at the peak of the floods, according to the Mekong River Commission (MRC), an area larger than Lebanon.
But lately the reverse flows have been seriously delayed.
Last year, the amount of water that flowed into the lake fell by about a quarter from the average levels seen around the turn of the century.
The reverse flow effect has been at its lowest level since 1997, leading to “extremely dry conditions,” says the MRC.
READ: Fishermen without fish as Cambodia’s change of course is late
More than a million people live in or around the Tonle Sap, but water levels have plummeted and fish populations have declined due to climate change and dams upstream of the Mekong. (Photo: AFP / Tang Chhin Sothy)
Weather conditions linked to climate change, such as a severe drought last year and the “El Niño” climate effect, have contributed to the crisis.
Environmentalists also point to the dozen major dams built along the main Mekong stream as a factor in slowing the flow, along with smaller irrigation dams built on tributary rivers.
LOST HABITATS
The change in water levels is having a major effect on the surrounding wetlands, precipitating a decline in the endangered species that live around the lake.
Nearly a third of the Tonle Sap’s natural habitats disappeared in the 25 years to 2018 and half of the lake’s floodplain was now under rice cultivation, according to a recent study by the Wildlife Conservation Society.
READ: Mekong nations push to share data as water level drops to new low
The rangers stop a fishing boat for questioning on the Tonle Sap. They warn that the animals’ habitats are under imminent threat, including a huge bird sanctuary where desperate fishermen search for new places to cast their nets. (Photo: AFP / Tang Chhin Sothy)
“Without urgent and coordinated action … the ecosystem that has sustained Cambodia for generations may be lost,” he said.
The meager fish populations have led most of the 2,600 fishing families living in Koh Chivang, a community of five floating villages on the lake, to grow chili and other crops to supplement their lives.
They are now cultivating land that used to be fish farms, and deputy community leader Hun Sotharith says illegal logging of surrounding forests for agriculture was on the rise.
COMMENT: Droughts and dams are drying up the Mekong River
Rangers patrol a bird sanctuary and protected area next to the floating village of Prek Toal on Tonle Sap. (Photo: AFP / Tang Chhin Sothy)
“If we don’t protect the remaining natural resources, there will be difficulties in the future,” he told AFP.
Rangers also warn that other animal habitats are under imminent threat, including a huge bird sanctuary where desperate fishermen search for new places to cast their nets.
TIMES OF CHANGE
Floating villages have adapted to the ebb and flow of the lake for generations, mainly relying on fishing or paddling canoes around town to sell food for a living.
Entire communities with schools, hair salons, cafeterias and even dental surgeries move into Tonle Sap, where fleets of canoes and small boats transport people.
READ: Floating rice: Cambodia’s weather-resistant alternative for food production
The change in water levels is having a major effect on the surrounding wetlands, precipitating a decline in the endangered species that live around the lake. (Photo: AFP / Tang Chhin Sothy)
But drought and disappearance of fish now threaten a traditional way of life in Koh Chivang, where young people go to urban jobs while their parents stay to keep their homes afloat.
“Children from this community now go to work in factories because there are no fish in the lake,” said 59-year-old fisherman Sim Suom, adding that his daughter now works in a cigarette factory in Siem Reap.
Leng Vann says he will soon have to travel to Siem Reap, about an hour by boat from his home, to look for work for a few months.
“We fishermen depend on water, fish and forests, so when they are gone, we cannot expect anything,” he said. “It’s over.”
