Fishermen head off to sea for a big catch of garbage

By The Nation

 

 

Even though tourism has come to a stop due to the Covid-19 crisis, Thailand’s seas are still teeming with rubbish. Fortunately, fishermen have been regularly going out to sea to collect waste, averaging 10 tonnes per month.

 

In collaboration with the Department of Fisheries, more than 7,000 fishing boats in 22 coastal provinces are working on reducing marine waste, said Mongkol Sukcharoenkana, chair of the National Fisheries Association of Thailand.

 

"I thank the association and the fishermen who are cooperating in the collection of marine waste which is affecting fish and the marine ecosystem, as well as to prevent rare sea creatures like turtles and dolphins from swallowing plastic waste. Getting rid of waste in our seas is a touch challenge, but a very necessary duty. If there is no systematic operation, the problem will worsen. Even if we can cut the marine waste by 50 percent in five years, fishermen will benefit from bigger and better catches.”

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30387452

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-05-07

 

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Well done those people. Every little bit helps.

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

Even though tourism has come to a stop

these is an obvious explanation

 

tourists are not responsible

2 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Even though tourism has come to a stop due to the Covid-19 crisis, Thailand’s seas are still teeming with rubbish.

 

1 hour ago, smedly said:

these is an obvious explanation

 

tourists are not responsible

I absolutely agree. The culprits are actually the fishermen themselves, and uneducated people living in small villages next to the ocean.

Happy to hear they remove 10 T pr. month - but that amounts to almost nothing - if they increased that weight by 1000X, then they might have a chance to meet their goal at a 50% reduction.

 

 

23 minutes ago, rasmus5150 said:

and uneducated people living in small villages next to the ocean.

and those who live close to a river eventually leading to the ocean, particularly in the NE of Thailand (Mekong).

 

Talking to NE Thai people, i.e. Isaan, most of them try to teach me that plastics disintegrate after a while and turn into fertilizer ????????

 

 

4 hours ago, Nakdontree said:

and those who live close to a river eventually leading to the ocean, particularly in the NE of Thailand (Mekong).

 

Talking to NE Thai people, i.e. Isaan, most of them try to teach me that plastics disintegrate after a while and turn into fertilizer ????????

 

 

 

 

Oh me oh my...

 

 

3 hours ago, Nakdontree said:

Talking to NE Thai people, i.e. Isaan, most of them try to teach me that plastics disintegrate after a while and turn into fertilizer

Really, I live in Isaan and have done for some years, we obviously associate with different people as I have never met one person who thinks this and most certainly no one has ever tried to "teach" me such nonsense. Good story though ????

11 hours ago, Nakdontree said:

and those who live close to a river eventually leading to the ocean, particularly in the NE of Thailand (Mekong).

 

Talking to NE Thai people, i.e. Isaan, most of them try to teach me that plastics disintegrate after a while and turn into fertilizer ????????

 

 

A lot of people seem to think everything disintegrates and turns to fertilizer, one of the our friends working with me said he would take our left over gypsum board trimmings and throw them out up in the mountains near his home, he said they would just become dirt. And he is a fairly well educated, intelligent fellow. The only thing that comes to my mind is that after the weeds and vines grow over them they are "gone".

    You are correct about the Mekong, we have been doing a bit of walking and fishing there while the water is down.

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Fortunately, fishermen have been regularly going out to sea to collect waste

On the contrary, it is very unfortunate and sad to see people doing this. While it may be well intentioned, picking up a bit of people's trash is doomed to fail and achieves nothing. For every piece of garbage they lift out, tens of thousands of pieces of trash get dumped right back in, and again tomorrow, the next day, and the day after that. All focus and efforts should go into stopping the polluting. Only then can actual cleanup begin otherwise it's people wasting their time and energy for nothing.

 

13 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

Well done those people. Every little bit helps.

 

 

12 hours ago, Nakdontree said:

Talking to NE Thai people, i.e. Isaan, most of them try to teach me that plastics disintegrate after a while and turn into fertilizer 

That would be BS... different kind of fertilizer.

As long as people continue to pollute which they are, cleaning up is a waste of time and achieves nothing. Every bit you pick up others toss out thousands more pieces of trash pollution right back in and repeat this over and over without a thought. Hence, cleanup is a strategy doomed to fail and a waste of time. I just don't get why anyone would advocate cleanup. If someone wants to make a difference, the focus should be to stop the pollution. It's so obvious--if your roof leaks then fix it, don't put buckets on the floor. But for a lot of people that's all their minds are capable of doing and they are blind to actual solutions. Volunteering to be the garbageman picking up after idiots tossing trash everywhere will never clean the oceans. It simply gives some people a misguided feel good that they did something when it has no effect on the problem. In fact it may be an own goal to hide the unsightly problem from the people who should be forced to see and be alarmed and angry at the growing mess out there. We live in a hopeless generation; both the polluters and the people trying to cleanup. There is no light at the end of the tunnel.

 

What’s wrong with letting gypsum board desinergrate.

gypsum and the paper will help the soil.  But I’m not too educated 

many thais simply dont care what or where they throw their rubish, shows how little pride/regard they have for their country. At the port where my wife works I see them rock up on their bikes/in their cars with their fishing rods, they get off and remove all the bags of rubbish they brought with them and toss it into the water on one side of the wharf them take their rods and start fishing on the other side. The streets are covered in garbage as people just drop/toss it where ever they are, even when there is a bin they will not walk to it and just drop the rubish in the gutter or on the footpath, doing the right thing simply doesnt come into it because it requires them to actually walk further or do something physical. Keeping their country clean is non existent, much easier for them to just throw rubish on the ground or in the water

Now the rubbish has been removed from the sea, what happens to it? Land fill? Burning?

9 hours ago, Lee4Life said:

A lot of people seem to think everything disintegrates and turns to fertilizer, one of the our friends working with me said he would take our left over gypsum board trimmings and throw them out up in the mountains near his home, he said they would just become dirt. And he is a fairly well educated, intelligent fellow. The only thing that comes to my mind is that after the weeds and vines grow over them they are "gone".

    You are correct about the Mekong, we have been doing a bit of walking and fishing there while the water is down.

Actually, gypsum has been and is used as a fertilizer, so what he was saying isn't that far off.

https://www.croplife.com/crop-inputs/micronutrients/the-role-of-gypsum-in-agriculture-5-key-benefits-you-should-know/

On 5/8/2020 at 11:07 AM, seajae said:

many thais simply dont care what or where they throw their rubish, shows how little pride/regard they have for their country.

True. It's a cultural issue, and as far as I can see, it has three prongs to it. 

 

1. Thais are taught that they are "free". This freedom appears not to be circumscribed all limited in very many ways, certainly adherence to the law is not a major factor in any Thai's life. This is a failing of education (or a success of education, because I believe it is intentional).

 

2. Thais are taught that their land is "sacred"; that they are watched over and protected by a 'supernatural being'; with all that implies. This is stated in many books, not that Thais are good readers,  only that when they do read they are fed nonsense. This is also a failing of education (or another success of education, because I believe it is also intentional)..

 

3. Thais are taught that they are 'special' as befits its inhabitants of a sacred land. Therefore, whatever they do is never wrong. This is a failing of society.

 

Until Thais are taught better that they have civic responsibilities as well as civic privileges, and are, in fact third World inhabitants of a third world country, these behaviours are unlikely to change. After all, these behaviours inter-alia have proved to be very profitable for the few inhabitants Thailand who are at the very top of the money tree, so there is very little motivation to bring about change. It seems to me that Thais are treated very much like monkeys in a cage and should be surprised if, over time, that is how they learn to behave. Especially in Isaan ties kept very uneducated, and with a diet that is truly alarming in its nutritional value. The other side of the coin to this, is that in general Thais are very protective and jealous of their way of life, believing (because they had been taught) that their way of life is superior to all others. 

 

It really is a problem, and not one which the aforementioned people at the top of the money tree care about or have a strategy for dealing with.

When I was a kid in Australia people just three their rubbish everywhere. They started a "Don't rubbish Australia" on TV, billboards,and print and introduced fines for dropping rubbish. Was very effective. Thailand needs similar. I remember meeting my Thai wife in Australia and her dropping her rubbish on the ground and telling her to take it back to Thailand and throw it there. Same for cleaning up water to stop mosquitoes. Most Thais (and lots of farung from cold climates) don't know they need water to lay their eggs.