Fishing communities are often the first to settle on any of the new islands that have emerged off the coast of Bangladesh. © Shamsuddin Ahmed / IRIN

PHNOM PENH, 26 August 2010 (IRIN) – Late rains and record low water levels in Cambodia’s two main fresh water systems will affect food security and the livelihoods of millions, government officials and NGOs warn. “We expect the impact to be very strong,” said Nao Thuok, director of the Fisheries Administration, adding that low water levels along the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers were already limiting fish production and migration. Crucial spawning grounds in floodplains along the rivers remained dry. “The places where the fish usually lay their eggs do not have much water so the fish population will decrease a lot,” he warned. Approximately six million Cambodians or 45 percent of the population depend on fishing in the Mekong and Tonle Sap basins, the government’s Inland Fisheries Research and Development Institute, reports. The annual “flood” season of daily rain usually starts in July but began a month late, local agricultural surveyors say. According to the Mekong River Commission, which monitors the river at throughout its member states – Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam – this month’s levels are among the lowest ever for August. At the port of Phnom Penh, the Mekong plunged to 5.36m on 23 August, against more than 7.5m the same time last year and more than 8.5m in 2000. …

CAMBODIA: Record low water levels threaten livelihoods via Apocadocs