Fishermen claim one unidentified ship responsible for discharging oil into the sea off Mae Klong est

[rooster59]

Fishermen claim one unidentified ship responsible for discharging oil into the sea off Mae Klong estuary

HUA HIN: A ship of between 3,000-4,000 deadweight tonnage was spotted of deliberately discharging oil into the sea off the Mae Klong river estuary in Samut Sakhon province in mid-October, fishermen told Thai PBS.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the fishermen said that while they were fishing in the area, they saw the unidentified steel ship with all its lights off discharging oil into the sea.

They said they trailed the ship for about an hour for a distance of about 18 kilometres during when they shouted in vain for someone on the ship to stop the malpractice. They admitted they could not get close to the ship and could not see the name of the ship because it was very dark and the vessel switched off all its lights on board.

During the pursuit, one of them communicated with other fishing boats in the area by radio to help track the ship and to notify authorities concerned. He said he waited until five days afterward when no actions were taken by any authorities and decided to file a complaint with officials of Harbour Department in Samut Sakhon which coincided with the day when Hua Hin reported oil slicks in the sea and on the beaches.

Mrs Chongkolnee Rityyong, chairwoman of a group of Hua Hin residents dedicated to the development of beaches in the district, said that the culprit still remains free. She suggested stiff actions must be taken against the culprit as oil slicks have contaminated the sea and beaches in Hua Hin and undermine tourism business.

She said that in her 50 years of living in this popular seaside town, this was the first time that the shoreline was hit by oil slicks.
A cleanup campaign launched by Hua Hin municipal and parties concerned has removed oil slicks from the beaches. Tourism has returned to normal and holidaymakers are back to the sea in droves.

The district police superintendent Pol Col Chaiyaporn Saladecha said he was awaiting for more information from the Harbour Department.
It was reported that as much as 1,000 tonnes of oil were illegally discharged into the sea.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/fishermen-claim-one-unidentified-ship-responsible-for-discharging-oil-into-the-sea-off-mae-klong-estuary

-- Thai PBS 2015-11-01

[NongKhaiKid]

No action taken after 5 days ?

Now wouldn't that be worth a follow up providing of course it didn't upset someone in authority and a ' leave it alone ' warning issued.

Edited November 1, 2015 by NongKhaiKid

[waldroj]

A 3,000 DWT ship would be around 90m long.

Surprise, surprise - that's seems to be a popular size for Thai-registered tankers.

Hard to imagine a vessel this size going undetected by Thai maritime authorities or naval personnel within 60km of the entrance to the Chao Phraya River, especially as most vessels tend to keep to the eastern side of the Bight of Bangkok.

Even with its nav lights off, it would still have made a significant signature on an official's radar.

An interesting web site showing vessel activity (presumably vessels fitted with Automatic Identification System) in the Gulf of Thailand is http://www.marinevesseltraffic.com/2013/06/gulf-of-thailand-marine-traffic.html

[BigBadGeordie]

Myanmar registered, or perhaps, that great seagoing nation of Laos?

Or perhaps a cunning plan from Montenegro?

[SOTIRIOS]

...it wasn't us...but we do not know who.....

...we tried to stop it by shouting.....

...5 days later we decided to let everyone know....when it was absolutely too late...

...enough witnesses.....did nothing...told no one........

...enough said....

[Muhendis]

If only the Navy had some submarines..........

[DirtyDan]

This seems fishy...

1) A fisherman sees someone directly polluting their catch area and doesn't radio it in? (says they "communicated with other boats in the area - assume they had a radio?)

2) Hasn't it already been confirmed to be coming from an estuary?

3) Who would spend $324,000 USD dumping +/- 7000 bbls (1 MT) of oil overboard? Here's my conspiracy theory of the day: A gift from an adjacent tourist area currently afflicted by the low tourist numbers in the LoS? (or record tourist numbers if you read the TAT reports... )

Edited November 2, 2015 by DirtyDan

[Vandadavid]

Gateways and high tech Cyber

Put your efforts into locating vessels first

People come first and the environmen

Egos 2nd

[Srikcir]

...it wasn't us...but we do not know who.....

...we tried to stop it by shouting.....

...5 days later we decided to let everyone know....when it was absolutely too late...

...enough witnesses.....did nothing...told no one........

...enough said....

Fishermen notified the authorities (Harbor Master?) right after their shouts to the boat to cease went unheeded. It was only after getting no response from the authorities for five days that they filed a complaint. Maybe the Marine police or navy were too occupied.

Edited November 2, 2015 by Srikcir

[Alration]

This seems fishy...

1) A fisherman sees someone directly polluting their catch area and doesn't radio it in? (says they "communicated with other boats in the area - assume they had a radio?)

2) Hasn't it already been confirmed to be coming from an estuary?

3) Who would spend $324,000 USD dumping +/- 7000 bbls (1 MT) of oil overboard? Here's my conspiracy theory of the day: A gift from an adjacent tourist area currently afflicted by the low tourist numbers in the LoS? (or record tourist numbers if you read the TAT reports... )

They did have radios, they did report it. All in the report.

[cookee68]

Right who can we blame now that we have had time to get together and make up a story

[Siammodels]

No

Just a UFO