Cambodia's giant lake shrinks as climate change, Mekong dams cut fish supply

SIEM REAP, Cambodia -- The pier of Kampong Chhnang, a fishing community north of Phnom Penh, was alive at 7 a.m. with the rhythm of knives hitting chopping boards. Dozens of women sat on the ground, slicing flesh from fish reeled in by the men from Tonle Sap, Southeast Asia's largest freshwater lake.

By noon, each woman would have about 20 kilograms to sell to fish paste makers, earning them just 10,000 riel, or $2.48. It was late October, two months early for the large-scale fishing season known as dai, but the men had cast their nets because the water was high from heavy rains, and the villagers could not risk it receding too soon.