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Hauling the net back up and looking at the catch, Than Min Aung smiled. He had a good fishing spot again today. Fishing is the main livelihood activity for Than Min Aung and his neighbours in Htin Shuu Kone Village. “I was born in a fisher’s family, so I helped my parents with fishing since I was 12 years old. I had no choice and fishing became my profession”. Including Htin Shuu Kone, over 20 villages rely on fisheries of the Pekon Oxbow Lake, also known as the Moe Bye Dam[1]. Located in Pekon Township, in southern Shan State, the Pekon Lake is connected to Inle Lake and surrounded by the Shan hills. It delivers the main source of income for the fishing communities who live in the surrounding areas of the lake.

Tilapia is the main species of fish in Pekon Lake nowadays. “We had a richer variety of types of fish until five or six years ago. But those other fish became hard to find,” Than Min Aung said. “Many fishers in our area used electrofishing[2] practices, not understanding well the long-term impact of that way of fishing. They could catch a lot of fish in an hour. It was not necessary to wait for a long time as you do with normal fishing.”

Though electrofishing is banned in Myanmar according to the Fresh Water Fisheries Law, fishing communities in Pekon widely used the practice until a few years ago. As they were not involved with large-scale commercial fishing, the local fishery communities did not know much about the Fisheries Law and sustainable fishing practices. Their aim was to get a lot of fish quickly to meet their families’ income needs. The problem with electrofishing is it results in all fish, regardless of size, being caught. Gradually, there were fewer and fewer fish species in the lake and it became much harder for fishermen to catch enough fish to support their families. 

Fishing is the only income source for Than Min Aung and his family. 

“It was even difficult to catch enough for our family’s consumption. So I had to migrate to other areas for fishing. Life was very tough at that time,” Than Min Aung said. The scarcity of fish varieties threatened the fishing communities’ livelihoods and villagers began discussing the conservation of the lake. The Shan State Minister of Ethnic Affairs supported this and took action, and the community-based Pekon Lake Conservation Committee was formed in August 2016 under the minister’s guidance. The committee’s first initiative was to develop a set of rules and disciplines for fishing. Information, education and communication posters were disseminated to all villages around the lake. Nightly security patrols were assigned to monitor that no prohibited fishing took place.

“We understand anyone who breaks the fresh fishery law will be punished. However, the communities here are poor and not well educated, so punishing them by law would be very intense in our opinion. Instead, we educate the community through penalties as an interim solution. We set three categories of punishments upon breaking rules, including a penalty in cash and taking away their fishing gear. If a person keeps breaking the rules repeatedly for three times, they will be punished as per the law,” the chairman of the committee Ko Khun Aung Thein said. Communities did not appreciate the initiative at the beginning, as they had to hand over their electrofishing gear to the committee, which threatened the security of their livelihoods. 

With the support of Metta Development Foundation, the Pekon Lake Conservation Committee introduced a new approach to fishing in mid-2017.  Under the new approach fishers who hand over their electric fishing gear receive fishing nets. “Electrofishing was used for a few years, and as a result varieties like the common carp were endangered. It will take some time to rehabilitate the situation,” Ko Khun Aung Thein said. The committee and communities work together to conserve the lake. Not only by using normal fishing practice with fishing nets, but also by introducing new varieties like the silver barb in the lake. “We built a hatchery and nursery farm for the fingerlings in Moe Bye. The types of varieties are selected in collaboration with the Department of Fisheries as well as through the local communities’ demand. Together with the community, we identify the prohibited fishing area in the lake, which is conserved for a period after we put the fingerlings in. The involvement of the communities is very good in this project.”

Pekon lake conservation committee is helping local fishers to get back to normal fishing practice and restore the lake's ecology. 

At the end of 2017, over 400,000 fingerlings - half of the target quantity – were put in the lake. The communities in the Htin Shuu Kone village changed their fishing practices and started using fishing nets. “After a difficult time at first, we came to understand the importance of the conservation of the lake. Before, only a handful people benefitted from the electrofishing and made the whole fishing community suffer,” says the Htin Shu Ywar Thit village leader Ko Aung Min Naing. The results of the conservation are clear, as scarce species such as Inle Carp and Featherback began to return. The market prices of these varieties are almost 10 times higher than the widely caught Tilapia. November-December is usually a period of fish shortages in the lake, but in 2017 the fishermen could catch enough fish for their daily meals. Since the livelihood conditions have improved, Than Min Aung returned to his village. “I’m home now. I am so happy to live together with my family. I can earn around MMK 200,000 in a month, which is enough for my family. Things are getting better now, so I’m motivated for the future.”

The Pekon Oxbow Lake Conservation Project is implemented by the community-based committee in Pekon, supported by Metta Development Foundation. The conservation project is funded through LIFT’s small grants programme for civil society organisations to strengthen local livelihoods systems.

Than Min Aung's mother is helping him to weigh the fishes on scale to be ready to sell in the market.