Marine Conservation Cambodia's projects

Encountering a dense patch of seagrass during an underwater survey

MCC is the organization that invented these anti-trawling structures

Our team doing a dolphin survey at the treehouse with binoculars

Cambodian young girls showing their octopus drawings at the end of our outreach session

Seagrass Project

Seagrass Research and
Restoration

Our ongoing marine biodiversity surveys in Kep and Kampot have shown seagrass regrowth in previously destroyed areas. The Habitat Restoration Structures are working with an estimated Recovery of over 2500 hectares of Seagrass regrowth!!! over the past 4 years.

Research Projects

Marine Conservation Cambodia projects, Marine Mammal Project

The Cambodian Marine Mammal Project

The project aims at collecting data on behaviour abundance, distribution and residency of marine mammals in Cambodia… (read more)

Marine Conservation Cambodia's projects Seahorse

The Seahorse Project

The love for seahorses is a big reason we are here today. Currently, we have identified 6 species in our study areas… (read more)

Marine Conservation Cambodia's projects Seagrass

The Seagrass Conservation Project

The project aims at conserving and expanding Cambodia’s seagrass meadows, as they are one of the most productive ecosystems… (read more)

The MFMA needs to preserve the livelihoods of the local fishing communities, while protecting the highly sensitive ecosystems at the same time. To achieve this, the MFMA comprises of four different zones: Marine Conservation Cambodia’s marine research projects have been monitoring the MFMA area since 2014, 4 years before its creation in 2018.

Conservation Area

112 hectares
Shelter for animals and plants
Pre-approved scientific research only

Fisheries Refugia

420 hectares
Nursery and foraging grounds for specific species
Sustainable fishing is allowed outside of spawning and mating seasons

Fisheries Protected Area

10040 hectares
Ecotourism, family-scale and sustainable recreational fishing are allowed

Recreational and Research Area

405 hectares
Recreational and research activities only
No fishing activities

Marine Restoration and

Marine Resource Management

Habitat Restoration Structures

We are not just restoring biodiversity by creating artificial reefs, but we are also helping the small-scale fishing communities who fish in a sustainable way… (read more)

Setting up the MFMA required a lot of initial research such as island environmental assessments and zoning plans (see our research archive here). To support our scientific monitoring and research projects, we also try to educate the public and raise awareness. Marine Conservation Cambodia’s marine monitoring projects have allowed us not only to give the initial recommendations for the creation of the MFMA, but also allowed us to monitor it in real time to offer adaptive management solutions and provide informative outreach and education programs.