• Society

Abundant Trey Riel Expected in Mid-January 

• By Chhum Chantha
• January 17, 2024 6:25 PM

PHNOM PENH — Trey riel​, used to make prahok, will be more abundant this mid-January compared to the first week of the prahok fishing season, which started on Dec. 19. 

Heng Kong, director of the Inland Fisheries Research and Development Institute, said fish will continue to migrate from lakes, rivers into the Tonle Sap Lake, Mekong River, and Bassac River especially to dai or nets along Tonle Sap River in Kandal province and Phnom Penh city from Jan. 15 to 21. 

He said there would be more trey riel in mid-January if the sky was clear with no rain or rainstorms. 

Heng Kong has seen a noticeable increase of harvested fish this year. He said this was due to the effective crackdown on major fishing crimes in the Tonle Sap Lake. 

“Reducing the number of dai or nets on rivers from 70 to 44 also enables fish to move freely to breed. It contributes to the increase of fish stocks this year,” he said. 

He said floods also contributed to the rise of fish spawning.  

Fishermen harvested about 11,000 tonnes in the first week of the season, 1,000 tonnes more than in the same period last year.  

He said although the harvest had increased, there were not many trey riel last month. Seventy percent of the harvested fish are Paralaubuca riveroi, 10 percent are Clupisoma sinensis and 20 percent are Amblyrhynchichthys truncatus.

Heng Kong said people who want to make prahok or smoked fish for themselves can buy it at the places it is harvested. He urged local authorities to help people with travel and transport of these fish products. 

Originally written in Khmer for ThmeyThmey, this story was translated by Rin Ousa for Cambodianess.