Oral Presentation International Conference on River Connectivity (Fish Passage 2018)

Householder catch and use of fish before and after a wetland fishway at Pak Peung, Laos PDR (#78)

Khampeng Yui Homsombath 1 , Lee Jason Baumgartner 2 , Wayne W Robinson 2
  1. Living Aquatic Resource Research Center, Vientiane Capital, LAO PDR, Lao People's Democratic Republic
  2. Charles Sturt University, Thurgoona, NSW, Australia

This research paper describes fish harvesting and use from Pak Peung wetland, Paksan District Bolikhamxay Province. The ongoing research surveys 10 households in 4 villages twice a year over a 4 year period and I present data from the first two years of the surveys. The villagers surveyed predominantly catch fish either above or below regulators on two nearby wetlands, Kadan and Peung. Peung wetland has a fishway installed which has been operational since 2015.  We predict that the catch in the wetland above the fishway will change through time as a result of the improved fish passage. In this paper I focus on the socio-economic outcomes of improved fish passage, by studying the fate of the household fisherman catch over the first two years of surveys.  I present results documenting changes in the use of fish since the fishway was installed, including comparisons of the number of fish consumed, preserved, given away or sold by villagers above and below each wetland since the fishway was installed. The results are also compared to pre fishway surveys conducted in 2011.