Marine eco-system in the Gulf at risk of collapse: Greenpeace

[oldsailor35]

why bother, the thai people do not give a shit about their own country, all that matters is money. Just look at the filth and crap all over the place, they have no respect for anything. This is so disheartening, it is a beautiful country but the people just dont care about it. How do you teach people to respect their own country when they are lazy and too proud to do the right thing, it is easier to throw your rubbish in the street than it is to bin it. They really nned a clean up Thailand day but no one would attend because it would mean working and that would cause too many to loose face, pathetic......

The answer is education.

But first you need to have a government that has a long term goal and a vision for the future.

No amount of education is going to prevent over fishing.

When the fish stocks disappear, so will the fishing boats. It's just a natural cycle of life. Fish farms will take over... they're well on their way already. Ocean caught fish will become an expensive luxury. They already are in Australia. The cheap fish comes from Vietnam fish farms.

Don't be confused, there is still plenty of fish being caught in Australian waters including prawn. However most of it is exported for much higher profit. Australian states have got very stringent laws regarding fishing in their waters.

[tropo]

why bother, the thai people do not give a shit about their own country, all that matters is money. Just look at the filth and crap all over the place, they have no respect for anything. This is so disheartening, it is a beautiful country but the people just dont care about it. How do you teach people to respect their own country when they are lazy and too proud to do the right thing, it is easier to throw your rubbish in the street than it is to bin it. They really nned a clean up Thailand day but no one would attend because it would mean working and that would cause too many to loose face, pathetic......

The answer is education.

But first you need to have a government that has a long term goal and a vision for the future.

No amount of education is going to prevent over fishing.

When the fish stocks disappear, so will the fishing boats. It's just a natural cycle of life. Fish farms will take over... they're well on their way already. Ocean caught fish will become an expensive luxury. They already are in Australia. The cheap fish comes from Vietnam fish farms.

i bought some kosher fish in france ,reading the box it came from china ,maybe fish but not 100% sure ,never again

It's all Mekong river catfish. I wouldn't touch the stuff, but they sell billions of dollars all over the world every year. It was so cheap that the US catfish industry were crying out about it... and forced them to name it "basa" and "tra" instead of catfish...(the scientific names). That's what Australians are eating when they buy fish and chips. They have a nice name for it in Thailand stores: Pacific Dory

Don't even think about eating any until you've watched this video....

http://vimeo.com/11817894

Edited June 30, 2013 by tropo

[btunes]

Pray for an asteriod.The human species has failed.

[oldsailor35]

it's enough to make one turn vegetarian ...soon we may all end up eating our own words, just as most of all our fearless leaders have done

nom nom nom

Never turn vegetarian, i am too addicted to munching meaty muffins.

[Ned]

Leonard was right: "Get ready for the future it is murder!"

[Kruzon]

It's soo sad! But how is it possible that Khao Samui island beaches get covered in plastic from the ocean following every storm but the fishing nets aren't full of plastic?

[bunuel]

Have written about sustainable tourism in many countries, and I sad to say that Thailand is near the bottom of the heap when it comes to environmental awareness on ALL levels. There is no evidence of any awareness of sustainability in any official planning,and on the grassroots level, people dump their garbage everywhere.

Not a surprise about the Gulf of Siam. The heaches of Pattaya and Jomtien are filthy.

It doesn't have to be this way. There are many example of well-managed sustainable tourism industries - another poster mentioned Costa Rica, which is also my poster child. But Caribbean islands like Tobago and Anguillla are also good,

and in Africa, Namibia. Botswana , Soufh Africa and Zimbabwe all do a pretty good job in sustainability.

Time for Thaland to catch up - before there is a disaster, like a cholera epidemic - as happened in Brazil and Peru for similiar reasons,

why bother, the thai people do not give a shit about their own country, all that matters is money. Just look at the filth and crap all over the place, they have no respect for anything. This is so disheartening, it is a beautiful country but the people just dont care about it. How do you teach people to respect their own country when they are lazy and too proud to do the right thing, it is easier to throw your rubbish in the street than it is to bin it. They really nned a clean up Thailand day but no one would attend because it would mean working and that would cause too many to loose face, pathetic......

The answer is education.

But first you need to have a government that has a long term goal and a vision for the future.

The answer is enforcement of the law.

[Bagwan]

Not to rain on peoples parade. But being old I can remember when it was a standard joke. The Americans have landed on the moon you can tell by the litter.

I have noticed on the state of Washington that the highways are kept clean by various groups of civic minded people and businesses and unions. They patrol certain areas and collect the litter on there area.

This is done because the states are full of litterbugs only now there are groups of people cleaning up behind them. Ask the Greenpeace people about the state of fish stocks off the coast of many Western countries. They will not paint you a pretty picture.

I understand that cod stocks in the waters around the UK are recovering thanks to implementation of laws limiting the size of catches and the fish introduced by the European Parliament. Most of the fish caught by boats operating out of Devon and Cornwall ports is boxed up and sold to France. They at least can appreciate it.

[ABCer]

On 19/4/2013 I have posted a thread on Eastern Thailand Forum: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/633898-who-loves-thailand-no-who-really-loves-thailand/

After reading the responses I decided never to go to this section of TV again. If you spend 10 min to check it out you will see what I mean.

The funny part was that obsene inadequate posts were all coming from local bastards who came here, live here a life much better than they could afford in their countries.

I live on the beach. I see what is taking place. Some nights i can count up to 160 big boats, each with 6 - 8 sailors fishing from sunset to sunrise. The beach is polluted with poly bags and anything that floats. Water is full of poly bags, shoes, ropes, discarded huge electric globes, etc.

They have fished out everything within 20 miles off the beach. The gulf is fast becoming a version of Dead Sea. Island corals are dead or dying. Beautiful tropical fish are disappearing. Any tourist coming here is fooled by ads, but how long will they remain fooled? Smaller boats come out at daytime and clean out every fish remaining with nets 100 m long with 1 cm size netting. Occasionally I look at their catch. Fish down to 5 cm long is all they get.

Tried to ask questions. The standard answer is: - we have been doing this for hundreds of years!

But now the boats are much bigger, have GPS, Sonars, powerful Diesels, longer nets, electric winches, 10 - 16 huge electric lights at night, etc.

No Marine Rangers, no Marine Patrols, no Regulations... And some people here talk about Education of school kids?... Ha! ... By the time they grow up there will be no need for Educated Thais.

Edited June 30, 2013 by ABCer

[metisdead]

Off topic posts, overly derogatory posts and inflammatory posts and replies have been removed.

[Soutpeel]

it's enough to make one turn vegetarian ...soon we may all end up eating our own words, just as most of all our fearless leaders have done

nom nom nom

Never turn vegetarian, i am too addicted to munching meaty muffins.

If vegetarian's are trying to save the animals....why do they eat all the animals food ?

[Bagwan]

why bother, the thai people do not give a shit about their own country, all that matters is money. Just look at the filth and crap all over the place, they have no respect for anything. This is so disheartening, it is a beautiful country but the people just dont care about it. How do you teach people to respect their own country when they are lazy and too proud to do the right thing, it is easier to throw your rubbish in the street than it is to bin it. They really nned a clean up Thailand day but no one would attend because it would mean working and that would cause too many to loose face, pathetic......

The answer is education.

But first you need to have a government that has a long term goal and a vision for the future.

I think the answer is US sanctions.

Thailand's got another year to stop the fishing boat slavery before sanctions come into force. I hope the US acts - I have more faith in the US government implementing sanctions than I do in the Thai government either getting real about education or intervening in the fishing industry.

Reading this article helps explain why slavery is a fact of life on Thai boats; if the catch per hour has already collapsed to as little as 25kg (according to the article) and fisherman are still bothering, then obviously slavery is sadly the only way to make the operation financially viable.

Don't Thai boat owners send their vessels to fish off the East African coast? Shows that the owners at least know what the true position is.

Traversing the Red Sea the Captain decided to go fishing with half a side of beef tacked onto the end of a minesweeping wire. Not a sniff even. In desperation we tossed a few hand grenades over the side to no effect. We even let off a couple of foam fire extinguishers, the active ingregient being manufactured out of sheep's blood. Zilch. Nada. Not a sausage. The Executive Officer offered the opinion that the local sharks had turned vegetarian, which provoked smiles. I countered this by suggeting that the sharks were busy writing books detailing the sex lives of Hans and Lotte Haas. The Captain laughed and said, "How droll. How very droll." I beamed. Then he said, "You're so sharp you'll cut silly yourself one of these days." I retired to my place towards the bottom of the pecking order.

[Bagwan]

The whole world ecosystem is at risk of collapse. There are many numbers of ecosystems animal species all over the world that are at risk of extinction.

USA, Europe and UK destroyed all their forests many years ago and many animals that were native to those regions are extinct.

Europeans cannot lecture Asian about destruction of ecosystems from the pulpit of false righteousness.

Politicians only care where their next buck and vote is coming from. The environment is far from their concerns.

The only hope for mankind is the evolution and proliferation of marine species that can survive a barren sea floor and feed off the the garbage mankind dumps in their environment. They won't be short of food!

EuoPeans can and should lecture Thailand. The theme would be we did that and see where it landed us. Don't make the same mistake. Learn from the ones that we made. False self righteousness doesn't come in to it. Europeans don't give a fig for face.

Incidently if you go to the Welsh March counties you will see that the Forestry Commission have been very active and large acreages have been set to forestry. True that the Sherwood and the Arden forests no longer exist but many missives, particularly from HMG, carry the message that they are using recycled paper. I understand that the Scandinavians are heavily into re-forestisation.

Edited June 30, 2013 by Bagwan

[Bagwan]

There was once a man of power in Thailand who grew up and was educated in England. When he came to power, i thought "at last" things will now change for the better. However i forgot one thing. That mans "Thainess" MAI PEN LAI ! He did absolutely nothing for his country. I think his name was Abisit Vijaya.

Perhaps the power structure being what it is, he was not allowed to do things that he knows need to be done. Upset the generals and he'd be out on his ass; the police of course are a law unto their own.

Turning this country the right way up will take at least a generation.

[retell]

There was once a man of power in Thailand who grew up and was educated in England. When he came to power, i thought "at last" things will now change for the better. However i forgot one thing. That mans "Thainess" MAI PEN LAI ! He did absolutely nothing for his country. I think his name was Abisit Vijaya.

Perhaps the power structure being what it is, he was not allowed to do things that he knows need to be done. Upset the generals and he'd be out on his ass; the police of course are a law unto their own.

Turning this country the right way up will take at least a generation.

that government was like an interim gov. not put there to make big change just keep the country going sort of say

[oyster]

That just went in one ear and out the other.

Even after the last fish in the sea is caught, if there is still a single baht to be made somewhere they'll invent new ways to mess it all up even more.

When the last tree has died, and the last fish is gone, man will realise he cannot eat money................but don't just blame Thailand.... this is almost global. Or as they are now saying "This world has enough for every ones need; but not for their greed.

[oyster]

Only after the last tree has been cut down. Only after the last river has been poisoned. Only after the last fish has been caught. Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.

― Cree Indian Prophecy

Thank you for correcting me...............

[attento]

I'm surprised there's a single fish left alive within 2000 miles of the Thai coastline.

Whats its name ?

Wanda?

Lucky

Unlucky ???

[attento]

There was once a man of power in Thailand who grew up and was educated in England. When he came to power, i thought "at last" things will now change for the better. However i forgot one thing. That mans "Thainess" MAI PEN LAI ! He did absolutely nothing for his country. I think his name was Abisit Vijaya.

Many inhabitants of England are equally ignorant of over-fishing - and it is the big fishing companies who are objecting most strongly to the "No-fishing" conservation Zones being planned around that coastline. Education in England is no better than that of Thailand at teaching the benefits of conservation and sustainability. Afterall, fish comes from the supermarket, not the sea, don't they ?

Edited June 30, 2013 by attento

[jpduggan]

Jeez, I was just about to waste my time reading this until I saw that it was ''credited'' to Greenpeace.Ha

[PoodMaiDai]

How do you teach people to respect their own country when they are lazy and too proud to do the right thing, it is easier to throw your rubbish in the street than it is to bin it.

You can't teach them to do anything because that would result in a loss of face.

Unless by the grace of cosmic forces they all figure it out on their own, they are never going to start taking care of their own country. Kudos to all the Thais who do care and live accordingly. They are out there, they are just the minority.

[PoodMaiDai]

That just went in one ear and out the other.

Even after the last fish in the sea is caught, if there is still a single baht to be made somewhere they'll invent new ways to mess it all up even more.

When the last tree has died, and the last fish is gone, man will realise he cannot eat money................but don't just blame Thailand.... this is almost global. Or as they are now saying "This world has enough for every ones need; but not for their greed.

Oh, it is without a doubt a global problem. Some countries are just worse off than others.

[retell]

There was once a man of power in Thailand who grew up and was educated in England. When he came to power, i thought "at last" things will now change for the better. However i forgot one thing. That mans "Thainess" MAI PEN LAI ! He did absolutely nothing for his country. I think his name was Abisit Vijaya.

Many inhabitants of England are equally ignorant of over-fishing - and it is the big fishing companies who are objecting most strongly to the "No-fishing" conservation Zones being planned around that coastline. Education in England is no better than that of Thailand at teaching the benefits of conservation and sustainability. Afterall, fish comes from the supermarket, not the sea, don't they ?

exept that in england they enforce the law not just bribe them at their convenience

[GeckosDiving]

why bother, the thai people do not give a shit about their own country, all that matters is money. Just look at the filth and crap all over the place, they have no respect for anything. This is so disheartening, it is a beautiful country but the people just dont care about it. How do you teach people to respect their own country when they are lazy and too proud to do the right thing, it is easier to throw your rubbish in the street than it is to bin it. They really nned a clean up Thailand day but no one would attend because it would mean working and that would cause too many to loose face, pathetic......

The answer is education.

But first you need to have a government that has a long term goal and a vision for the future.

And who is going to educate them? You think Thais will? From the poor to the rich, the main concern is MONEY and their own personal hygiene (cuz you gotta look good). You see it everywhere. Even in areas next to really nice high-income neighborhoods, you drive down the road and there is trash all along the road. Go to major hotels EVERYWHERE in Thailand and while the main facilities are nice, the filth and trash on the drives into them are horrendous.

It's all superficial here. The hotel looks good while it funnels its guest's feces a 100 meters out from the shore.

Compare Thailand to Costa Rica, about the same latitude, and what a completely different mindset. There 25% of the land is set aside as national wildlife parks, and people don't go about poaching and illegally felling trees. The national parks there are beautiful with few hints of human trespass.

How quickly this has degenerated into thai-bashing. It is almost like a lot of you are seeing the same therapist who has prescribed this as a cure for for your sad lives.

Great click-bait for TV but a depressing display of naked racism. Really, why do you all live here? Is it some form of self-flagellation?

Why is it Thai's just can not handle being told anything good or bad !! I guess when your the most intelligent people in the world you don't need to be told anything !!! But not all Thai's think like this their are some Thai's that understand whats going on and things need to change for the better for their family and others but the other 95% take it as Thai Bashing absolutely no common since !!!

[swifty5x5]

That just went in one ear and out the other.

Even after the last fish in the sea is caught, if there is still a single baht to be made somewhere they'll invent new ways to mess it all up even more.

Thats why they need so much ear medicine.

[lineofentry]

Nobody give a sh*t for the future.They just want money NOW.

Humans will be the shortest reigning dominant species in the history of little planet earth. Extintion is looming.

[rbrooks]

Greenpeace you picked the wrong country to dock and air your grievances. You are just preaching to the choir and most of the Thai population about 99% have never heard of your organization and probably think you are just another Farlang with a big boat and big money.

[francescoassisi]

why bother, the thai people do not give a shit about their own country, all that matters is money. Just look at the filth and crap all over the place, they have no respect for anything. This is so disheartening, it is a beautiful country but the people just dont care about it. How do you teach people to respect their own country when they are lazy and too proud to do the right thing, it is easier to throw your rubbish in the street than it is to bin it. They really nned a clean up Thailand day but no one would attend because it would mean working and that would cause too many to loose face, pathetic......

The answer is education.

But first you need to have a government that has a long term goal and a vision for the future.

The answer is enforcement of the law.

What laws..... Thailand has very few laws pertaining to zoning, environment and regulation of development. Most of these"laws" are designed to be enforces after the event so are pretty useless.

[francescoassisi]

Sad to see so many blatantly racist slurs alleging a stereotypical Thai character.

There are Nearly 70 million people in Thailand of various ethnicities and they certainly don't all share the same opinions or universal negative characteristics....... Conclusion? Citing "Thai-ness" as the problem is barking up the wrong tree.

[francescoassisi]

it's enough to make one turn vegetarian ...soon we may all end up eating our own words, just as most of all our fearless leaders have done

nom nom nom

Never turn vegetarian, i am too addicted to munching meaty muffins.

If vegetarian's are trying to save the animals....why do they eat all the animals food ?

A markedly facile comment. If you check out figures such as proteine per acre, you'll see that vegetables are actually a much more efficient way of producing feed.... Even for humans