Small-scale wetland indigenous fisheries management in Lao PDR

• Department of Livestock and Fisheries, Laos

During 1997 and 1998 ACIAR and Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) together supported a project in southern Laos (FIS/1996/119 Indigenous fisheries development and management in Lao PDR). Scientists studied biological and socio-economic aspects of Mekong Basin fisheries within different aqua-ecosystems in one district of southern Lao PDR. Topics included mainstream, major tributary, seasonal backswamp, small stream, ricefield and farm-pond fisheries.
Research collaborators from the Lao Department of Livestock and Fisheries (DLF) and the University of Sydney worked with villagers and personnel from district and provincial fisheries authorities. Follow-up research was identified and this second project focused on seasonal backswamps and small streams over a wider area. Specifically, the project addressed stocking and management of seasonal backswamps and fishing in small streams in two districts of Champassak Province in southern Laos.

During 1997 and 1998 ACIAR and Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) together supported a project in southern Laos (FIS/1996/119 Indigenous fisheries development and management in Lao PDR). Scientists studied biological and socio-economic aspects of Mekong Basin fisheries within different aqua-ecosystems in one district of southern Lao PDR. Topics included mainstream, major tributary, seasonal backswamp, small stream, ricefield and farm-pond fisheries.
Research collaborators from the Lao Department of Livestock and Fisheries (DLF) and the University of Sydney worked with villagers and personnel from district and provincial fisheries authorities. Follow-up research was identified and this second project focused on seasonal backswamps and small streams over a wider area. Specifically, the project addressed stocking and management of seasonal backswamps and fishing in small streams in two districts of Champassak Province in southern Laos.

In order to improve the short- and medium-term potential for supply of fingerlings for backswamp stocking, significant improvements were made to the physical infrastructure at the Kilometre 8 Fisheries Station. While the longer-term objective was to encourage breeding and nursing of fish at the local level, it was still necessary to supply fingerlings from this government operated facility and to develop its potential for research-oriented trials.
The major development activity associated with small-scale wetland indigenous fisheries management (SWIM) was the stocking of several backswamps in each of two districts of Champassak Province with the indigenous barb (Barbodes gonionotus). In addition, the existing management systems for these backswamps and the changes associated with stocking activities were studied throughout the project.
Provincial, district and village level personnel involved in breeding and nursing of fingerlings for release into backswamps received training at fisheries stations in northeastern Thailand, strengthening both technical and management aspects of fishery station work.
A tagging study allowed measurement of growth rates of B. gonionotus in three different environments: the Sedone River, the backswamps into which they were released, and the ponds at the Km8 Fisheries Station. The catch per unit effort (CPUE) study that commenced under the earlier project continued, in order to maintain a time series for movement and abundance of different fish species in the Sedone River,.
In addition to backswamps, use, access and management of stream fisheries were studied through the mapping and survey of two streams in Sanasomboun District and one in Phonethong District.

Villagers and District staff gained considerable experience of technical aspects of village level nursing and breeding of fish required for backswamp fish stocking. This expertise is now replicable and will be applied both for extending capacity to other villages and, most likely, to a more decentralised network of fingerling production units.
Through the parallel monitoring of management adaptations to the stocking of backswamps, district and provincial staff gained a much greater awareness of social and organisational aspects of this type of development intervention. This happened within the frameworks of co-management and community-based natural resource management, and project staff participated in various national and international forums for exchange of experience in these fields.
There was a dramatic increase in production of fingerlings at Km8 Fisheries Station following the infrastructure improvements there.
The villages participating in the stocking trials all report increased consumption of fish associated with the dry season backswamp catches. It proved difficult to quantify these increases, and there was variability both between backswamps and from one year to another.
A less tangible, but no less strongly perceived project outcome was the greatly increased confidence in participating villages in their own capacity to self-manage. This was partly associated with the legitimacy of local initiative that was gained within the co-management framework of the study.
Interest in project activities spread well beyond the immediate project areas. Villagers in Champassak and Soukoumaa Districts of Champassak Province have expressed interest in carrying out similar stocking activities.