Disgusted by state of Thailand’s seas, minister orders agencies to take immediate action

By THE NATION

 

 

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa has instructed related state agencies to take immediate steps to protect marine resources that have been damaged by fishing.

 

On Friday (September 25), the minister said he had gone diving near Surat Thani’s Koh Tao island and in other places in the country and found trash under the sea as well as other signs of damage.

 

He said related agencies will have to urgently take steps to protect marine resources in most-affected places such as Ranong’s Koh Phayam as well as look after the coral reefs in Surat Thani, Pattani, Phang Nga and Krabi.

 

The minister said Thailand initially had close to 149,000 rai of coral reefs, but now only 5.7 per cent of them are alive. The rest have been destroyed by humans.

 

The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources recently announced new rules to protect marine resources. According to these rules, people are prohibited from parking their boats near coral reef of Koh Phayam, as well as disposing wastewater or poisonous things into the sea. Fishing near the specified reefs is also prohibited.

 

Violators will face a fine of up to Bt100,000 and/or a year in prison. These new rules went into effect on Wednesday.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30395123

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-09-25

 

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I shudder to think of trash cleanup being done in the waters of the Andaman sea by Thailand without some assistance from someone who can ensure no more damage is done.  However, Thailand will hire all the divers it can find, put them in a line and have them swim in quadrants to pick up the trash, and of course only pay them 300 baht per day.

This guy just actually may be one of the good ones. I hope I am right, his dad was a powerhouse for sure.

Reading this, I was always waiting to read about the bad Farang. 

 

A positive surprise.

And this problem has passed his attention over the past how many years? 

11 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

I shudder to think of trash cleanup being done in the waters of the Andaman sea by Thailand without some assistance from someone who can ensure no more damage is done.  However, Thailand will hire all the divers it can find, put them in a line and have them swim in quadrants to pick up the trash, and of course only pay them 300 baht per day.

and then charge them 100k if  they touch a sea slug yet those divers who did probably never  did any littering at  all.

Good assessment by the minister and good actions taken with immediate effect. Refreshing to see someone blame humans rather than just chalk it up to global warming and do nothing. If those things can be enforced, the reefs will benefit a great deal.

 

a few decades late, and undoubtedly a few billion short. 

2 hours ago, bodga said:

I  have nothing but contempt for most  of  them

I agree with and see everything you wrote, but if it gets to the point that this makes you feel such contempt for them, then you might want to consider moving to a different country. Either that, or learning to block it out. People like you and me aren't going to change 60+ million people's attitude and upbringing (or lack thereof). Enjoy life and look at the positive side too. Don't let the negative stuff eat you up. 

there is no reason why this problem cannot be tackled by the current government. just like the many other problems i give it a 6 month deadline to be fixed. like always. 

 

watch how well this comment ages in the next 6 months. 

Normally they close the reefs to divers so the fishermen won't be disturbed and photographed by them. This is a welcome change of true.

Sorry but the Thai gov is to blame as their inability to implement pro active progressive programs to manage human behavior in the environment...

 

this knee jerk reaction of fake punishment is all image but does nothing to improve environmental protection and more importantly change human behavior...

 

too damn lazy to manage an effective comprehensive program...

I can almost guarantee the first action will be to immediately form a committee to evaluate the problem, source funding, and to arrange fact finding tours of the affected areas. This committee will then, in 6 months time, report to a higher committee to source the relevant companies to deal with the situation. These companies, ( owned by well connected individuals ), will then submit reports to the first committee, who will discuss them in various meetings, then pass them on to the second committee for final actions to be taken...........

However, I do admire the Minister for his attempts despite the fact that he must have had his head up where the sun doesn't shine for a long time to not have noticed all the negative publicity over the past several years.

1 hour ago, jonclark said:

I totally understand where you are coming from. And wouldn't defend the actions of dumping or burning etc. But can you tell me what the weekly rubbish collection by the authorities is like. I ask as in my in laws village that all do the same as you mentioned, but there is absolutely no centralised or regular collection of rubbish so they are all left to get rid of it by themselves and most of them as you have observed do this badly. Perhaps some investment and regular collection of rubbish is needed.

They come regularly and are  quite  good BUT  oh my lord   they have to pay something like 40  baht a month for it, cheaper to burn for many, rubbish  collected once  a  week, they even provide free  bins some will even burn their  rubbish next to the  rubbish  bins

51 minutes ago, djayz said:

I agree with and see everything you wrote, but if it gets to the point that this makes you feel such contempt for them, then you might want to consider moving to a different country. Either that, or learning to block it out. People like you and me aren't going to change 60+ million people's attitude and upbringing (or lack thereof). Enjoy life and look at the positive side too. Don't let the negative stuff eat you up. 

I  dont, I certainly dont waste my energy with the  bunch of local losers I let them fester in their <deleted>  conditions where they can whinge and moan and believe me they do about anything, not their  fault, everyone else  causes the problem but not them, on no sireee????????

Edited September 26, 20205 yr by bodga

I hope something comes out of this.  Its sad seeing the fishing boats pulling out after a night on the go just as the dive boats pull in for a scuba at sail rock Koh Tao/Koh Phangan.

 

Its bottom up.  Big fish need food.  The worst offenders are the big ching chang boats that use 1/2 cm nets to scoop up the tiny ching chang and everything else.  It something to see.  They drag the big nets up and take the fish straight out of the water and drop the whole load into super salted boiling water on the back of the boat.  From swimming to cooked in seconds.  

 

To keep the fisherman off their backs any local fisherman who pull up on a boat they will give a bucket of uncooked ching chang for free to be used for bait.  Its bad.  They go back and forth between the channels of Samui and Phangan and all around Anthong Marine parks and that just within my sight. 

Edited September 26, 20205 yr by Taco

15 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

I shudder to think of trash cleanup being done in the waters of the Andaman sea by Thailand without some assistance from someone who can ensure no more damage is done.  However, Thailand will hire all the divers it can find, put them in a line and have them swim in quadrants to pick up the trash, and of course only pay them 300 baht per day.

Surely this is a tourist attraction, come to Thailand and clean up our sea.

1 hour ago, jonclark said:

I totally understand where you are coming from. And wouldn't defend the actions of dumping or burning etc. But can you tell me what the weekly rubbish collection by the authorities is like. I ask as in my in laws village that all do the same as you mentioned, but there is absolutely no centralised or regular collection of rubbish so they are all left to get rid of it by themselves and most of them as you have observed do this badly. Perhaps some investment and regular collection of rubbish is needed.

There are regular collections of rubbish in Pattaya. And there are also signs on Beach Road saying it is mandatory to use bins, and mandatory not to smoke on the beach. Those signs even in English. 

well stop overfishing & the slave labour that goes with it ?

About time!

 

If cleanup is done in collaborstion with divecenters etc. It will be good and when cleanup is done look at how cuba has been protecting their marinelife. Think what you want about Fidel but he was an avid scuba diver and because of that the water and marine life was highly protected.

 

And its not difficult for dive centers to give instructions to their divers. This zone no underwaterphotography with flash as it damages corals. In these areas dont touch anything. Breaking corals come with hefty fines. Dont take up anything unless its garbage etc. The marine environments can be maintained and preserved. Around the islands alot of corals are not damaged by fishing alone but also by all boat taxis that go straight over them braking corals with the boats and especially their propellers.

Edited September 26, 20205 yr by Evolare

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The minister said Thailand initially had close to 149,000 rai of coral reefs, but now only 5.7 per cent of them are alive.

and once you have 3 subs maneuvering about they will take care of the remaining 5.7%

50 minutes ago, cardinalblue said:

Sorry but the Thai gov is to blame as their inability to implement pro active progressive programs to manage human behavior in the environment...

 

this knee jerk reaction of fake punishment is all image but does nothing to improve environmental protection and more importantly change human behavior...

 

too damn lazy to manage an effective comprehensive program...

Send a qualified person to see how Malaysia manages the Sipidan area, top class management, fixed anchorages for multiple dive boats, dedicated fee collector funds the management of the area and he picks up any garbage from the Chinese who don't give a f#£k

Limited number of daily divers, you need to buy a permit for any day and well managed. 

Gulf of Thailand = Hepatitis Sea

4 minutes ago, Bender Rodriguez said:

well stop overfishing & the slave labour that goes with it ?

Correct, but if a foreign writer does an article about it, they get angry and try to put him in jail.

14 hours ago, holy cow cm said:

This guy just actually may be one of the good ones. I hope I am right, his dad was a powerhouse for sure.

A powerhouse ???? translated in to clear English, he had a PHD in mastering corruption. By the way he did his Ba (they changed the law) but the work was done by a ghost writer ???? Yet again a member of the same old political families that are running the country for more than 40 years. Actually what he is telling is "my dad did a very bad job when he was a prime minister.

Edited September 26, 20205 yr by SomchaiCNX

31 minutes ago, Radar501 said:

Gulf of Thailand = Hepatitis Sea

You don't have to drink sea water. ????

My Thai relatives in Bangkok are all very concious of garbage, they have people who

come by to collect bottles and cans as well as cardboard. In Nong Khai

the place was very clean. Around Kanchanaburi I noticed that most people

near my relatives were good about burning their combustables and I did not

see too much garbage at least on the roads where I travelled.  In Hua Hin though

there were some sois in the city where some low lifes threw their garbage. However in the

country sides near Hua Hin conditions were better.  Even in Canada there are lazy

people who do not use the land fills, and throw their garbage along some dead end

roads.  There are low lifes all over the world, who do this, not just in Thailand.

Geezer

Really ?
HE was diving ?
Should have been thinking about their nature before they let millions of Chinese and others destroy it.
But there is a word for it: Greed

3 hours ago, jonclark said:

I totally understand where you are coming from. And wouldn't defend the actions of dumping or burning etc. But can you tell me what the weekly rubbish collection by the authorities is like. I ask as in my in laws village that all do the same as you mentioned, but there is absolutely no centralised or regular collection of rubbish so they are all left to get rid of it by themselves and most of them as you have observed do this badly. Perhaps some investment and regular collection of rubbish is needed.

In my village years ago we separated all rubbish and took it to a re cycle lady in the town, she PAID for all you took. she weighed all items and paid by the kilo

In 1994 in Rayong, one evening about 18h00 after work went for a swim in the sea. Came out of the water and noticed my body covered in black oil/tar splotches. That was the first and last time I have swum the sea in Thailand and never will never again.

 

Edited September 26, 20205 yr by userabcd