Sustainable Coastal and Marine Fisheries Project (SCMF)
Employer Description
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) through the General Directorate of Fisheries (GDF) has secured financing from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and other development partners via loans and grants (Loans 4270/8431/8432 and Grant G0869 CAM) to implement the Sustainable Coastal and Marine Fisheries Project. This project aims to enhance the climate resilience and sustainability of coastal and marine fisheries in Cambodia’s four coastal provinces: Kampot, Kep, Koh Kong, and Preah Sihanouk.
The project focuses on reversing the sharp decline in fisheries, promoting sustainable mariculture, and upgrading fish landing sites to improve seafood safety. It is anticipated that approximately 40%
of the nearshore fishery will be restored to a more productive and sustainable state, contributing significantly to climate change adaptation. Furthermore, the project supports private sector development by empowering coastal communities and small businesses to diversify livelihoods, adopt sustainable practices, and expand into viable enterprises. Special emphasis is placed on advancing women’s economic empowerment through increased participation in small and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs).
In order to support SMEs, one sub-output of the project aims is designed to improve commercial seafood safety which will back GDF and PPIU to (i) develop clear understanding of the food safety risks within marine fisheries; (ii) conduct and communicate food safety risk mitigation requirements for key markets in the region and internationally; (iii) develop key commercial seafood value chains; and (iii) develop the capability, tools, and equipment for GDF and PPIU to implement a sea food risk management and mitigation program for the blood cockle, mussels, and blue swimming and mud- crab value chains. The suboutput will support a traceability firm to explore and develop and then test the introduction of traceability within the marine sector and assess the cost of operation and its viability.