Angry fishermen burn down office over exclusive rights

The attack in Kandal province about 20 kilometres east of Phnom Penh came shortly after Prime Minister Hun Sen pledged to return access to traditional fishing grounds to poor fishermen.

Nearly 100 fishermen threw stones and set fire to the office of the owner of a commercial fishing lot on the Mekong River, according to Khoeang Vanthul, chief of the Kandal province Fisheries Office. No one was hurt.

The building and equipment belonged to a businessman named Morn Mao, who had recently acquired the rights to Lot 6 on the Mekong and was reportedly banning local fishermen's boats from the waters.

Most Cambodians get more than half their daily protein from fish. Even farming families often depend on subsistence fishing to feed their families and help supplement their income.

But increasingly, private companies have been buying up rights to certain areas under government revenue-raising programmes. Hun Sen has decried the practice in several speeches in the past week, accusing local fisheries officials of corruption, though some lot sales are in fact legal.

The prime minister last month promised to give several lots on the Tonle Sap lake back to local fishermen.- and fired the national head of the Fisheries Department when he protested such a move was not legal.

However, Kandal officials said that the fishermen who rioted on Monday will face charges for destruction of property, according to Kol Sam Ol, chief of Loeuk Dek district, where the attack happened. "What the people did was illegal and I will see that they face a court," he said.

(la/dpa)