TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgement Introduction General ...

At present, development projects recognize that the farm pond is a key
element in the creation of physical/natural capital for poor households,
thus, offering free or subsidized services for pond construction. Whether
this is seen as a fish pond or not, fish culture usually adds value to the
resource unless it is also to be used for drinking water supply (as was the
constraint in the Family Food Production Project, an early attempt to
promote aquaculture in Cambodia).
These issues only relate to land-based
systems. For the rural poor, often
landless, open access or common
property aquatic resources may offer
access to aquaculture:
Freshwater context
Resources may include backswamps
and oxbows in flood plain
environments or small reservoirs,
including watershed catchments in
small tributary valleys.
Coastal areas
Where many coastal fishers have been suffering from reduced catches
in recent years, sheltered estuaries and bays constitute potential
resources. The big issue in these cases is whether the rural poor can
secure permanent access to the use of the water bodies concerned,
i.e., whether existing power structures and processes in the community
facilitate this access.
Another constraint to coastal aquaculture is the openness of the area.
With open access to coastal areas, individuals have difficulty obtaining
tenure and even communities may not have jurisdiction. Even when
they do have jurisdiction, their ability to enforce control is constrained
by the physical openness of the sea.
Technical options for small-scale aquaculture