Production trends, monetary returns and benefit sharing protocols from the extensive aquaculture practice of culture-based fisheries in rural communities in Lao PDR

• Secondary use of small water bodies through culture based fisheries for fish production in rural Lao is demonstrated
• The community managed aquaculture systems were of three types based on the nature of harvesting and benefit sharing
• In all three types the communities gained in terms of food fish production and monetary value

Data are presented on culture-based fisheries, an extensive aquaculture practice of community managed stock and recapture, conducted in 32 water bodies of varying sizes in Laos (18°00′ N; 105°00′ E) since 2007. Based on harvesting strategies and income distribution patterns, three management styles (Categories 1, 2 and 3) were identified. Production per cycle and per cycle/ha and monetary benefits per cycle increased with management experience. For example, the overall mean gross production levels (kg/cycle) ranged between 1350–2844, 650–4622, and 2750–8759 for Category 1, 2 and 3 water bodies respectively. Revenue (in Kip; 8000 Kip = 1 US$) per cycle ranged between 108,000–61,500,000, 1,700,000–78,150,000, and 697,000–171,750,000 for water bodies of Categories 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Production, revenue and monetary gains in relation to other parameters (e.g. size of the water body) are demonstrated, and underlying reasons for these observations are discussed. For example, the relationship of direct monetary gain per household (Y in Kip × 103) adopting Category 2 and/or Category 3 management to the number of households (X) is depicted by the relationship: Y = 3,829,606e− 0.006X (R2 = 0.52; P < 0.01).