• Society

Prahok Catch Rises in First Week of Season

• By Chhum Chantha
• December 27, 2023 6:10 PM

PHNOM PENH – Fishermen harvested about 11,000 tonnes in the first week of the prahok fishing season, which started on Dec. 19. This was 1,000 tonnes more than in the same period last year. 

Heng Kong, director of the Inland Fisheries Research and Development Institute, said the increase was due to the government setting up a national committee to crack down on major fishing crimes in the Tonle Sap lake. This had been almost 100 percent effective. 

“However, fishing crimes by small families have yet to be cracked down on fully,” Heng Kong said. 

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has reduced the number of dai, or nets, on rivers from 70 to 44, allowing fish to move freely to breed. Floods also contributed to the increase of fish spawning.  

Although the harvest has increased, there were not many of the trey riel that are popularly used to make prahok during the first week.   

According to the ministry, 70 percent of the harvested fish are Paralaubuca riveroi, 10 percent are Clupisoma sinensis and 20 percent are Amblyrhynchichthys truncatus.

Paralaubuca riveroi is not​ commonly used to make prahok. It is used to make pha-ak or to eat immediately.

Heng Kong said there would be more trey riel in mid-January. Fish stocks could also increase by about 10 percent compared to the same period in 2022. 

In January 2022, 650 tonnes of prahok were harvested. The prahok fishing season will last until February.  

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