Koh Kong Mussel Farmers Struggle to Find Buyers

[CEOCambodiaNews]

Lean market rains on K Kong communities’ mussel parade
Hom Phanet | Publication date 29 November 2021 | 20:56 ICT

Unfavorable weather and the lack of a market are threatening the livelihoods of blue mussel-raising communities in the Peam Krasop Protected Area, in Koh Kong province.

Production of blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) this year could fall below 2020 levels, resulting in limited funds for next year’s cultivation, according to Vong Dara, the head of one such community.

Dara’s is one of three Peam Krasop-based communities that raise the edible bivalve molluscs, according to Ministry of Environment director-general for Local Communities Khieu Borin.

Dara told The Post that blue mussels are typically harvested from September to March, but indicated that the harvest season this year could only start as early as end-December, due to unseasonal showers and thunderstorms.

“Traders from Vietnam and Thailand have come to see our mussels twice or thrice, but decided not to buy, saying the molluscs were too small and too thin” for commercial use, posing considerable headwinds to an already uncertain market, he said.

In September, the ministry organised a promotion event surrounding the Koh Kong blue mussels at Makro Supermarket in western Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district, in an effort to support biodiversity conservation in and around mangrove forests, and introduce the shellfish to a wider domestic audience.

Mangrove forests provide support in coastal saline or brackish waters for filter-feeders such as blue mussels, which are often found clumped together on tree roots.

But even so, Dara claims that there is very little demand, with most buyers wanting just over 10kg a day to cook in restaurants or sell in supermarkets.

“If the market remains this narrow, my community’s mussel diggers face a lack of capital to buy more stakes,” he said.

“Out of 150 members, only 30 per cent can afford to buy stakes and prepare for next year.”

But as the Gregorian New Year approaches, Dara hopes Thai traders will rush in and buy mussels for seasonal events, saying the community could start harvesting the molluscs by the end of the year.

Koh Kong provincial Department of Environment director Hun Marady told The Post that the local market for the mussels is predominantly geared towards travellers to the province, which is why he says demand is currently so low.

On the other hand, most Cambodians are still unfamiliar with the shellfish and have not acquired a palate for them, he said.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/ ... sel-parade

[SternAAlbifrons]

The dams.

[SternAAlbifrons]

No nutrient flow.

[SternAAlbifrons]

That's what they eat.

[SternAAlbifrons]

And the fish.

[SternAAlbifrons]

And the crabs.

[SternAAlbifrons]

And their mangrove breeding system.

[SternAAlbifrons]

I was going to say

Stupids!

[SternAAlbifrons]

But it was not stupidity.

[cambo swa]

Maybe it is the flavor additives from the raw sewage piped directly to the sea. Being a bivalve shellfish they are filtering that aromatic and dank water 24 hours a day for 12-15 months until mature for harvesting. No thank you.