Cambodia fish exports earning up despite output decline in 2011

Cambodia exported 30,000 tons of fresh and processed fish in 2011, down 14 percent from 2010 figure of 35,000 tons, Nao Thuok, director general of the Fisheries Administration, said Tuesday. The country's fish exports earning totaled 60 million U.S. dollars last year, up 50 percent from its 2010 revenue of 40 million dollars, he added. In 2011, the average price for a ton of fish was about 2,000 dollars, up from 2010 price of some 1,150 dollars. "The decline in fish exports last year was due to the government's cancellation of the licenses of all 35 fishing grounds around Tonle Sap Lake, so the catches have declined," he said. "But the quantity of fish in natural lakes has remarkably increased." The fish has been exported to neighboring countries such as Vietnam and Thailand, as well as Singapore, China's Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea. Nao Thuok said that last year's output of natural and raised fish was about 600,000 tons, up from 550,000 tons in a year earlier.