Trawls (Khmer name Uon Os)

Trawl fishing

       There are two types of trawl fishing gears operating in Cambodian waters. The trawl operated from one fishing vessel is called single trawler and the trawl that is operated by two fishing vessels is called pair-trawlers. Trawl nets were introduced in Cambodia in 1960 (MoE, 1998) and the target species it caught originally were pelagic and demersal species, and the non-commercial species were thrown or non-thrown back to the sea. However, pair-trawlers are illegal according to Cambodian Fishery Law. After the opening of the fertilizer factory in 1993, the trawlers have changed their target species to catching trash fish for fertilizer. Trash fish is composed of small-size fish that have no value in the market, non-edible species and juveniles of economically important species that are unacceptable in the market. During the 1980s the fish production caught by trawl fisheries contained about 30-40% trash fish, but now the trash fish comprise about 60-65 % of the total catch.

       Cambodian trawl fisheries are not yet developed. Around 95 % of the trawlers are single trawlers. They spend only one or two days inshore or offshore during each fishing trip and their catch are preserved with ice for the target species and kept it alive for some commercial species. Trawl fisheries are more dominant in Sihanoukville (Tab. 4) because it has good road (national road number 4) connections to Phnom Penh, it has tourist facilities, electricity and also, it has many fish processing factories and the fertilizer factory. The pair trawlers have been operated in Cambodian waters by foreign fishermen who came to fish in Cambodian waters illegally.

Table4.Number of trawling vessels in Cambodia

Province/ Municipality	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
Kep	-	-	-	-	-	-	5	7	52	52
Kampot	31	16	5	186	186	20	30	22	89	89
Sihanoukville	227	242	276	262	244	226	296	283	656	756
Koh Kong	164	184	268	186	130	214	214	342	719	413
Total	422	442	549	634	560	460	545	654	1,516	1,310

(Source: DoF of Cambodia, 2002)