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LEADIN: Overfishing and climate change have combined to deplete fish stocks in Cambodia's Koh Rong Archipelago, causing hardship in communities traditionally reliant on fishing. One organisation is working with local fishermen to develop new sources of income and to help preserve the marine environment. STORYLINE: Fishing villages like Prek Svay on the island of Koh Rong, off southwest Cambodia, are on the front line in the battle against climate change and environmental degradation. Marine biologists say ocean warming and overfishing have slashed fish stocks by as much as 80 percent in five years. Local fish prices have doubled in the past year alone, from 5000 riels ($1.25) to 10,000 riels ($2.50) a kilo, adding to hardship in the community. For fishermen like Hin Sophal, making ends meet is becoming more difficult. "If we cannot fish in the sea, we're basically done for. We don't know how else we can take care of our families, we have to get other jobs to make some money. Now it's finished for people working in the sea. We're waiting for two or three more months to see if things get better. This fishing season is over now, we hope it's better next season," he says. Most local fishermen are limited to shore-based fishing with small nets or smaller boats offshore. But there's been a big increase in the number of large trawlers fishing off Koh Rong. Five years ago there were about 60, now there's more than 120, including many from neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam. The fishing crisis is being exacerbated by ocean warming and acidification caused by climate change, according to marine biologist Ben Thorne who has been studying the waters around Koh Rong for two years. "There's now global recognition of changing environments and in the marine environment, as in here in the Koh Rong Archipelago, is ocean acidification and ocean warming and we're seeing changes in the corals and the fish stocks here based on that ocean acidification. The corals can't cope with that increasing in temperature, they're stopping spawning at certain times of the year, they're not spawning when we're expecting them to spawn. The fish can't cope with that because their food source is depleting and with the ocean acidification - the dropping of the pH, the corals can't cope with that and they start to dissolve," he says. The Song Saa Foundation has been set up to promote sustainability in the Koh Rong Archipelago. It has created a no-fishing marine reserve around the coral reef breeding grounds which has helped stabilise fish populations. The foundation is also planting mangrove grasses and trees in vulnerable areas and working with former fishermen to develop new sources of income, such as growing mushrooms and fish farming. "Now we are working with the community, we help them as a part of our efforts to fight climate change," says Song Saa Foundation local manager Leng Phalla. "We work with vulnerable people, the people who are most affected, by building fish farms and planting mangroves and sea grasses to conserve the environment. That is a part of their lives that they can control and manage sustainably and they can get nutrition from it while at the same time helping to preserve the environment." After a lifetime of fishing, Nok Pon and his family have been forced to find other ways to earn a living. Nok, who lost his arm fighting for the Cambodian navy in the 1980s, has switched to construction, building houses, schools and clinics all over the island. The family also grows mushrooms for sale to local restaurants and they have a small fish farm. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/6dafa5bf30603bd080d46afc6c354c93 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork