Kampot fishers double incomes from tourism

Fishing villages in Kampot are doing something simple but surprisingly hard to pull off — they are making conservation pay. Not in a vague, long-term way. Right now. Families that used to depend almost entirely on whatever they could catch are adding homestays, boat trips, mangrove walks, and seafood meals for visitors. The result is a small but real local boom, and it helps explain why this story is bigger than one nice tourism anecdote. ### What changed in Kampot? The change is that several coastal communities have stopped treating fishing and tourism as separate businesses. In places like Kampong Samaki, Prek Thnout, and Trapeang Sangke, the same mangroves and shallow coastal waters that support fish stocks are now also the thing tourists come to see. That means a healthier ecosystem does double duty — it puts more fish in the water and more paying visitors on the boardwalk. (angkortimes.com) ### Which communities are at the center? Kampong Samaki is the clearest example. It sits in Kampot province’s coastal zone and has been building itself into a community-run ecotourism site since 2019, with help from local authorities and NGOs. Trapeang Sangke is the more established version of the same model — it started as a fishing community in 2009, shifted into ecotourism in 2014, and now has more than 900 members. (cambodianess.com) ### Where is the extra money coming from? Part of it is still fish. Kampong Samaki’s community chief, Sok Kao, said fishers now average around 100,000 riels a day, or about $25, after better management and conservation improved biodiversity and catches. But the new layer is tourism income — direct seafood sales to visitors, guided activities, and overnight st(cambodianess.com)at catch. (angkortimes.com) ### Why did catches improve at all? The short answer is management. Local leaders and officials point to stronger community organization, patrols, and resource protection, especially around mangroves and marine habitats. That sounds dry, but it matters. If illegal activity drops and nursery habitats recover, fish stocks get a chance to rebound. Trapeang Sangke has also been (angkortimes.com)” — it is a conservation-and-governance story first. (angkortimes.com) ### Why is tourism sticking this time? Because the product is concrete. Kampong Samaki offers mangrove walks on a 400-meter bridge, kayaking, seedling planting, traditional fishing experiences, and homestays. Sok Kao said the community has 11 homestays and they are often fully booked, especially on weekends. That is a useful detail because it shows demand is not hypothetical — capacity is already tight. (cambodianess.com) ### Who helped build this model? NGOs and development lenders are all over this story. Aide et Action helped Kampong Samaki with hospitality training, waste systems, ecotourism marketing, and even seabass farming. The Asian Development Bank and the French Development Agency are backing Cambodia’s broader Sustainable Coastal and Marine Fisheries project from 2023 to 2029, with Trapeang Sangke highlighted as a model site. (cambodianess.com) ### Why does Kampot matter beyond one village? Because Cambodia is clearly trying to turn Kampot into a bigger coastal tourism node. The country inaugurated Kampot International Tourism Port in April 2025 to support maritime and cross-border travel, adding infrastructure behind the softer ecotourism push. So these fishing communities are not operating in isolation — they are plugging into a broader provincial strategy. (english.news.cn) ### What’s the catch? This is still small-scale, and that is both the strength and the limit. A village with 11 homestays does not transform a national tourism economy. But it can transform household economics if the model stays community-run and the ecosystem stays intact. The danger is obvious — if visitor growth outruns conservation, the thing people are coming to see gets d(english.news.cn)it. That is why the incomes look stronger and more resilient than a pure catch story ever could. (cambodianess.com)