History
No recorded and administered settlements existed on Koh Rong island prior to 2000. From 1960 to 1975, the island was managed and governed by two institutions, the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port and the Navy authority. No one lived on Koh Rong island during the Pol Pot regime (1975–1979) and there were no organized fishing activities. The site was governed by the Navy authority for five miles around the island during 1979 to 2000.
Since 2000 the Department of Fisheries is the principal government agency responsible for management of living aquatic resources. It cooperates with local authorities, communities, local fishers, and NGOs, to manage and conserve the resources.
Henri Mouhot on his way from Bangkok to Kampot—a day and a half before arrival, in Travels in the Central Parts of Indo-China, 1864:
Settlements and infrastructure
There are four distinguishable villages on Koh Rong—Koh Tuich Village in the south-east, Prek Svay and Doeum D'keuw in the east and north-east and Sok San Village in the north-west. Most local residents live from fishing (70%) and small scale crop cultivation (30%), although an increasing number has found jobs in the quickly growing tourism sector. This is particularly true for Koh Tuich Village, where tourist businesses currently outnumber residential homes.
Apart from narrow paths in the jungle—many of these are dead ends that had been created by illegal loggers—there exists absolutely no road network. The islands interior remains non-populated, villages and holiday resorts are confined to the coast and the beaches. Conveniently all transport goes via sea routes. As of 2016, local residents and visitors can take advantage of a well-functioning ferry network.
Extensive road clearings do foreshadow the island's future as a major tourist destination, yet as the developer's Chinese investment partner has dropped out of the team, funding remains uncertain. The Ministry of Tourism has expressed indirect discontent and is likely to cancel development licenses, if these important islands are left undeveloped.
In September 2012 the island was hooked up with the internet to Sihanoukville on the main land. The Royal Group dropped a fiber-glass cable in the gulf's waters—a distance of almost 30 kilometers. Still, none of the infrastructural projects are yet under way and according to The Phnom Penh Post: "plans are foggy".
Survivor
The island has also played host to the popular reality program, Survivor. In 2012, Koh-Lanta; the French edition of the program, produced a special All Star edition (titled Koh-Lanta: Revenge of the Heros) on Koh Rong, near Sok San village. Production returned to the island in 2013 for a regular edition (Koh-Lanta: Cambodia), however production ended abruptly after the death of a contestant. Koh-Lanta returned to the island in 2016 for another regular edition (Koh-Lanta: Island of Treasure).
More recently, the American edition of Survivor produced Season 31 (Survivor: Cambodia—Second Chance) and 32 (Survivor: Kaôh Rōng—Brains vs Brawn vs Beauty) of the program on Koh Rong over the course of four months between March and July 2015. The sixteenth edition of Expedition Robinson, Sweden's Survivor, was also filmed on Koh Rong.