River levels have been hitting record lows this year following an unusually short rainy season that some have attributed to climate change.

Soy Keo, acting president of the Coalition of Cambodian Fishers, said five provinces around the Tonle Sap lake were seeing worryingly low catches.

“The fish haul has decreased over 50 percent compared to last year,” said Keo, 43, who fishes himself in a floating village in Pursat province.

Keo suggested three reasons for the declining catch: more competition, illegal fishing and climate change.

More people were fishing the same areas due to low water levels, including some who had turned to fishing because their rice paddies were dry, Keo said.

Increasing numbers were also turning to illegal fishing — using electric shocks to kill fish and nets with holes smaller than allowed — to try to increase their catch, he added.

Some of the problems are long-standing. Illegal fishing has destroyed natural fish nurseries and is leading to smaller fish sizes and diversity, according to business website Capital Cambodia.

The Agriculture Ministry’s six-monthly report for the first half of the year, released in August, also noted that climate change was linked to flooding and low river levels, affecting fisheries. Illegal fishing also remained a problem, the report said. Furthermore, people were cutting down trees along shorelines in order to farm, destroying habitats where fish can breed, it said.

Ros Vuth, a 62-year-old fisherman in Siem Reap province, also complained of a lack of fish in the Tonle Sap and surrounding rivers.

The rainy season was unusually short this year, and tributaries in his area returned to their low dry-season levels within two to three months, Vuth said. Usually, the process took six months, he said.

“This year was the fastest [to return to] low tide,” he said. “This month the rivers are dry.”

Yong Kim Eng, president of the People Center for Development and Peace, said he hoped authorities and stakeholders could work to find a solution for fishers.

The low water levels were also causing environmental degradation, Kim Eng added.

“It causes the loss of some species of fish and biodiversity, especially along the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers,” he said.

Three supermarket cashiers in Phnom Penh’s Chamkar Mon district told reporters that many customers have changed their behavior from using plastic bags to bringing their own reusable cloth bags instead.

Phon Leakhena, a cashier at A to Z Market on St. 57, said it seemed that customers only used plastic bags about half the time, when they forget to bring a bag from home.

“Some people’s houses are far and it is hard carrying many things [without a bag] so they need the plastic bag,” she said.

At nearby Super Duper, cashier Khem Markara said he sometimes explained the environmental impact of using plastic bags to some customers. Many brought reusable bags from home, he said.

However, “sometimes they come from home without anything in their hand. If they do not buy a plastic bag, when they ride their motorbike it would be hard to carry,” he said.

Nop Teth, a cashier at an Aeon mini mart, said customers buy plastic bags only when they end up choosing more and more things to buy after they arrive.

“The customer has reduced the use of plastic bags more than before,” he said. “They save plastic bags that they used before and then use it again.”

Sok Sakun, a university student sitting down at a table inside the Aeon mart, said he only buys plastic bags around 30 to 40 percent of the time.

Sometimes he forgets to bring his own bag from home, he said. He usually carries products in his hands because he knows that using plastic makes pollution.

“We can reuse them and we can reduce their use by putting things in the same plastic bag,” he said.

Cambodian Youth Network natural resources project coordinator Phin Savey said the policy to charge for plastic bags should apply to people selling goods at all markets, not just supermarkets.

“I see that at many markets, not supermarkets, plastic bags seem to be very popular, so the government should be strengthening or using methods of advertising and promotion that will encourage people to use materials that can be reused many times, such as baskets, or bags made from cloth,” he said.

Environment Ministry spokesman Neth Pheaktra said that “as soon as possible” the plastic bag fee would be extended to all sellers, not just supermarkets.

But it was also important to find replacements to plastic bags, he said.

“We have some companies that produce plastic … from natural materials that are easy to dissolve, so we encourage more to invest in plastic production that doesn’t affect the environment,” he said.

Environment Ministry Say Sam Al spoke on Monday at the ministry’s annual conference that taxing plastic bags at supermarkets was based on criticisms about the environment from citizens in many forums.

People wanted changes to respond to climate change and promote green development and sustainable living in Cambodia, he said, and many were happy with the policy.

In Phnom Penh alone, around 10 million plastic bags are used on a daily basis, according to the U.N. Development Program. Plastic breaks down into microplastics that can pollute both the sea and freshwater sources.