Project Description
Aquaculture GIS and Aquaculture Database – CaPFish Aquaculture
Client: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), Fisheries Administration (FiA) – funded by AFD | Donor: AFD | Duration: July 2021 – June 2022 | Location: Cambodia
The ‘ST3 Aquaculture GIS and Aquaculture Database’ (ST3) project, was one project in a cluster of projects which made up the broader CaPFish Program. The Program was led by different agencies and contributed to food security and socio-economic development in Cambodia with a focus on to enhancing people’s livelihoods and the nation’s prosperity. The Department of Aquaculture Development (DAD) was the National executing agency under the Fisheries Administration (FiA). The European Union (EU) and Agence Française de Développement (AFD) were donors, with ICEM as the implementing agency.
ICEM contributed to sustainable, climate-resilient and inclusive growth in the Cambodian aquaculture sector through strengthening Fisheries Administration (FiA) sector governance capacity (assessment, management, enforcement) at central and cantonment level. ICEM achieved and contributed this, by working on three main objectives: a) developing and testing tools for improving aquaculture Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) using a mix of remote sensing, spatial analysis and surveying methods, b) developing a centralized Database (DB) and interactive user interface to store, access and visualize aquaculture data relevant to aquaculture planning, and c) transferring related knowledge to enable FiA to use the products in their day-to-day planning.
The main beneficiaries were, the FiA whose capacity for aquaculture M&E was enhanced, and the fish farmers, namely seed producers and small and medium-scale commercial aquaculture producers, who though this project are supported to enhance their capacity to increase production.
Description of services provided in the assignment:
Core project technical components implemented by ICEM comprised:
- Component 1: Mapping aquaculture ponds using Remote Sensing and Object-Based Image Classification;
- Component 2: Mapping aquaculture suitability using Spatial Multi-Criteria Evaluation; and
- Component 3: Surveying aquaculture using a mobile device application (KoBo), and integration of component 1-3 data products into an online storage and dissemination system (server-side DB and Graphical User Interface (GUI)).
- Component 1: Aquaculture Pond mapping
- Component 2: Criteria trees and suitability maps
- Component 3: M&E survey, Database and Graphical User Interface
Mapping of aquaculture ponds using remote sensing and object-based image analysis methods introduced an approach for rapid overview of the current situation of aquaculture assets and with limited on-the-ground resources. The mapping of earth ponds for Siem Reap and Kandal provinces yielded a total of over 6,500 earth ponds. These total values are further differentiated into classes of high, medium and low aquaculture probability.
The Spatial Multi-Criteria Evaluation for Aquaculture contributed to strategic planning and outcomes monitoring. It helped decision-makers systematically capture the driving forces enabling or challenging aquaculture. It yielded two key outputs: a) criteria trees that list all parameters that have influence on aquaculture and describes the nature of their influence, and b) suitability maps. Criteria trees and suitability maps were developed, for earth ponds and for cage aquaculture. The suitability maps covered the full CaPFish programme area (10 provinces).
Component 3 focused on data products, training government officers, and storage/dissemination software. An aquaculture survey, was implemented through the KoBo suite of tools, local government officials were trained and contributed to the toolset, which generated detailed data for specific aquaculture locations, across two provinces, Siem Reap and Kandal. This level of detail gave stakeholders a very fine-grained insight into the state and trends of the aquaculture sector. To consolidate and share all three data products – earth pond maps, suitability maps and the field survey results – a database and interactive online Graphical User Interface was developed.
