The Kampong Thom Provincial Administration in Cambodia says that immediately after the June 5 commune council elections, measures will be put in place to make sure that none of the fishing communities throughout the province uses illegal fishing equipment.
Chin Sitha, director of the Fisheries Administration’s (FiA) provincial cantonment, told The Post that the authorities will collect data on the fishing equipment that is being used or stored by each family.
Sitha said the administration made its last warning to all fishermen in its purview in a May 12 notification, ordering them to hand over any illegal devices they had by May 31.
“In the notification, we clearly stated that in cases of non-compliance, police will take action. Now the deadline has come and gone, but we have not seen one fisherman hand in a single piece of illegal equipment,” he said.
Sitha renewed his calls for fishermen in the province to check their fishing equipment again and see if it could be deemed illegal. If they discovered that their gear breached regulations, they should immediately take it to the police. If they did so before the elections they could still avoid fines, he said, adding that the police would soon be carrying out checks in every fishing community.