Rayong beach littered with garbage

[Thaivisa News]

Rayong:- The popular Mae Rampheung Beach has been covered with garbage washed ashore, Naewna reported.

Naewna said its reporter was alerted of the garbage on the beach at 3 pm Wednesday.

The reported checked the scene and found plastic bags, fertilizer bag, plastic bottles, pieces of wood, glass bottles and broken pieces of tools at the Lan Hin Khao area of the beach. The garbage littered the beach for over one kilometer long.

There were also black residues like traces of oils spill. Part of the sea also had its color change to be yellowish green in a phenomenon called whale feces, which smell very fishy.

Naewna said the spot is popular among both Thai and foreign tourists.

Local fishermen told the paper that a lot of garbage was often washed ashore when there was monsoon, which generated big waves.

They added that the phenomenon of the sea water color changing often happened at the beginning of the rainy season. They said rain waters washed a lot polluted things from the land into the sea and the rain waters also caused the temperature of sea water to change.

The condition caused phytoplankton to multiply very fast, and the plankton depleted oxygen from the sea water, causing its color to change and causing other creatures to die.

Rachan Wongdara, 46, said he visited the beach often but he had never seen the sea changing color and smelling badly.

He said he was not sure whether the sea water would be detrimental to his children or not. He added that sea was still clean when he visited the beach during the Songkran holidays.

[chooka]

And TAT says international tourism is up as tourists flock in record numbers to see this natural phenomenon.

[canuckamuck]

Rayong must have the only beach in Thailand not generally covered in garbage. This wouldn't be news for most of the beaches I've been to here.

[bornz]

Have visited there literally dozens of times and never saw it like this depicted in the news photos yesterday:

[jerojero]

That ought to boost tourism.

[Oziex1]

Sadly this is the shape of things to come around the world as we use the worlds oceans as garbage dumps.

I am fortunate to live near a beautiful white sandy beach on the West coast of Australia, however as the season changes at this time of year all sorts of crap washes up onto the beach, mainly plastic refuse from the fishing and maritime industry.

[Jessi]

And TAT says international tourism is up as tourists flock in record numbers to see this natural phenomenon.

TAT.............The hub of spin.

[masuk]

I was at Rayong Beach about a year ago, and was amazed at the junk washed up from fishing boats.

Apart from the mercury vapour lamps thrown into the sea when they burn out, there were numerous squid hooks, which are deadly sharp, plus the usual junk that our non-ecology minded workers of the sea throw overboard, from plastic bags to bottles of all shapes and sizes.

I can't imagine a land farmer doing this to his crops and fields.

[MuuDaeng]

Sadly this is the shape of things to come around the world as we use the worlds oceans as garbage dumps.

I am fortunate to live near a beautiful white sandy beach on the West coast of Australia, however as the season changes at this time of year all sorts of crap washes up onto the beach, mainly plastic refuse from the fishing and maritime industry.

Still, in a civilized world, particularly in tourist areas they tend to clean up, and sometimes even public beaches. Sometimes just pop into my mind (Pattaya resident) ...

[ozyjon]

And i was planning to holiday there for the

clear pristine beaches,, well maybe not.

[Wombat6]

This is not news !! The whole of Thailand is covered with rubbish which is great for the Rats and mosquitos and flies who are thriving on it.

[Gillyflower]

I have spent a lot of time on this beach over the years and I have never seen it clean. Any attempt to clean it up is usually done by the foreign residents, It's worse after the weekend, because it is then crowded with Thais.

[NickJ]

Said it before and will say it again...Thai-Fisherman are Pigs of the Sea.......

[losworld]

This is not news !! The whole of Thailand is covered with rubbish which is great for the Rats and mosquitos and flies who are thriving on it.

And don't forget the lovely thai dogs covered in scabies, ticks and fleas just waiting to give you a lick or take a chunk out of your flesh if they travel in packs lol.

[losworld]

Have visited there literally dozens of times and never saw it like this depicted in the news photos yesterday:

I bet the only thing that will pick up this garbage is the wind.

[jamesjohnsonthird]

The trash companies that haul garbage from the islands.....

Would they dump at sea to save on expenses?

[butch333]

i would like to know when they ll make test sea water near the beaches like we do everywhere in the world . i think nobody will go swimming after the results . the beaches are real dumping ground and the sea a dangerous coktail of bacterials , fecal matter , oil , glass and plastic bottles .

[elgordo38]

And TAT says international tourism is up as tourists flock in record numbers to see this natural phenomenon.

Someone should set up a hip boots rental booth to get through the garbage to the water

[Local Drunk]

Wonder what the deck of a Thai submarine (if their was one) would look like if it surfaced in the Gulf?

Photoshop contest anyone?

[HooHaa]

Said it before and will say it again...Thai-Fisherman are Pigs of the Sea.......

given that the thai fishing industry is known world-wide for its inflexible recruiting techniques, can it surprise anyone that environmental concerns are very low down on your average fisherman's heirarchy of needs? perhaps the burden of guilt may actually lie elsewhere and be part of a much larger problem.

i reckon it is pretty easy to offer smug condemnation from a comfortable vantage point.

[impulse]

Meanwhile, a little further south in Songkhla (Samila Beach):

Shameless plug, I know. But I love the place...

(Edit: BTW, a storm had just blown through, or the water would have been blue-green)

[SteveH]

There was about 30 people from the national park cleaning up on the beach today, still a fair bit of rubbish around but no where near like the earlier pictures were showing. Would hope that some sort of investigation takes place, and who knows maybe a culprit found.

[NickJ]

Sad.....It starts with educating the kids, Boy and Girl Scouting is pretty big here. Why cant they get it right? My Dad was the local Scoutmaster and from a very early age I knew it was wrong to litter, leave the lights on and to never shoot anybody that was surrendering.....

[blazes]

"Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink".....

[SteveH]

Sad.....It starts with educating the kids, Boy and Girl Scouting is pretty big here. Why cant they get it right? My Dad was the local Scoutmaster and from a very early age I knew it was wrong to litter, leave the lights on and to never shoot anybody that was surrendering.....

Very true, I have noticed a slight improvement over the years but a long way to go yet. Had Mae Rhumpeung beach does get regular clean ups, local schools, local companies and local people all have a go at various times of the year. Local vendors clean up around their pitches every day.

Another example of improvement, I noticed some kids on a motor bike stop and put some rubbish in the bin that was outside our house waiting for garbage collection day, at first I thought what a cheek, then I thought actually that was good they could have just chucked it in the street.

[UPDEHSOI]

Went down to Rayong last year to visit my friend Peter, who owns Lucky's Guesthouse on Had Mae Rampung beach. I didn't swim much while visiting him. Besides all the litter on the beach, many of the restaurants have some nasty liquids running down the beach, and into the ocean. Some have installed plastic pipes which spew out some sort of liquids also. ( I didn't bother going for a close-up inspection )

[robertthebruce]

Gosh how bad is that...

[bornz]

There was about 30 people from the national park cleaning up on the beach today, still a fair bit of rubbish around but no where near like the earlier pictures were showing. Would hope that some sort of investigation takes place, and who knows maybe a culprit found.

Thank you for the update and good to know the cleanup happened.

The earlier photos showed extremely much more trash than is typically on the beach there and it would be very advantageous to find out why and how that occurred.

[steve73]

There was a major beach-clean effort a week or so before Songkran, with about 100 army, 50 Monks, and around 200 volunteers who cleaned the entire beach - all 10km of it. But the next high-tide deposited a little more trash again, and within a few days it was almost as bad as before.

However, this last week has seen FAR MORE rubbish than I've ever seen before (and I've lived around here for more than 7 years). Some of it is obviously from the fishing boats (light bulbs, nets, rope, and lures - which are especially dangerous), but far more this time appears to be sacks of old plastic bags which tend to neither float nor sink, and make swimming very unpleasant.

Given the quantity and variety it should be possible for "someone with appropriate training and experience" to identify the source...

If it's the big ships dumping their own rubbish (or even deliberate bulk garbage disposal) it should be possible to stop this practice (with appropriate legislation and enforcement - obviously without back-handers). But if it's simply years of accumulated trash being washed-up following larger than normal storms, then I'm concerned that these things could continue for years.

All credit to the many beach restaurants that keep their patches cleared, but there are more than a few lazy ones who do not bother (which means "their" rubbish gets washed further along to the others on the next high tide). Can I suggest all visitors closely inspect the beach in the area they intend to patronize, and vote accordingly with your feet...

[jomoports]

How about Pattaya city get on and clean up the beach. Tourism is suffering enough!

Photo at pattaya beach by central kiang.