Rayong Bay a 'dead sea' for fishermen

[webfact]

Rayong Bay a 'dead sea' for fishermen

By PRATCH RUJIVANAROM 
THE NATION

 

Fishing boats are left abandoned on the beach in Rayong. Many fishermen have quit their jobs because the number of fish is significantly lower since the 2013 oil spill.

 

Four years after oil spill, situation has not returned to normal.

 

RAYONG: -- PEOPLE in Rayong, especially fishermen, are still suffering the consequences of a major oil spill in Rayong Bay four years ago, because fish have not returned. However, PTT Global Chemical PLC (PTTGC), which took control of the cleanup, insists that the marine ecosystem has recovered to its normal state.

 

Meanwhile, environmentalists have urged new laws and other measures to prevent and tackle oil spills in the future.

 

Weerasak Wongnarong, a fisherman from Tambon Tapong in Rayong’s Muang district, said he and his colleagues had suffered financially since the spill, which happened four years ago today.

 

He encouraged authorities to conduct comprehensive research into the damage and clean all spilled oil from the seafloor. “Our life has changed drastically since the oil spill. We cannot fish in Rayong’s sea any more. Instead, we have to go farther to fish, which increases our expenses,” Weerasak said.

 

He said the income of fishermen in his village had reduced from as much as Bt10,000 per day before the oil spill to less than Bt3,000. They now had to fish as far as across the Gulf of Thailand in Prachuap Khiri Khan and many people were seeking other careers, because fishing could not support them anymore.

 

The accident happened on July 27, 2013, when a Greek tanker pumping crude oil to the PTTGC refinery at Map Taphut Industrial Estate leaked about 50,000 litres of oil into Rayong Bay. Soon after, an oil slick floated ashore at the famous tourist destination of Koh Samet.

 

Pictures of white sandy beaches turned black and dead marine animals soaked with oil brought home one of the country’s worst environmental disasters.

 

Nevertheless, PTTGC stated that it had cleaned up the oil spill within seven days and restored the marine environment to its normal state within three months.

 

However, Weerasak said the sea was still damaged. He claimed that up to 80 per cent of the spilled oil was still submerged on the seafloor, making it too toxic for marine life.

 

“Instead of scooping out the floating oil patch on the sea surface, the company chose to use chemicals to sink the oil down to the seafloor,” he said. “So, it appeared that they had successfully cleaned up the sea within a short period, but this method polluted the sea severely.

 

“There is still no survey on how much oil is left on the seafloor, but every monsoon season, waves usually wash tar balls onto the beach.

 

“Therefore, we urge the authorities to conduct a survey of the seafloor to understand the real situation, and get rid of all the leftover oil to recover the marine ecosystem.” However, PTTGC senior vice president for corporate affairs Warawan Tippawanich stated that the company had been working closely with local people to mitigate the consequences of the oil spill. 

 

She said it also had up-to-date measures to prevent and tackle oil spills in the future.

 

“From the environment monitoring by the Pollution Control Department [PCD], it was concluded that the situation has already come back to normal. So the PCD made a conclusion to stop monitoring the impacts of the oil spill since October last year,” Warawan said. “But we still continue many projects to help and support the livelihoods of the local people.”

 

She said PTTGC had initiated 40 projects to restore tourism, 31 projects to promote education and career options for local people, and 13 projects to improve the environment, working alongside authorities and academic institutions.

 

“We have a close relationship with the local people, as our stance is that we are also a part of Rayong community,” she said. “We are always open to public opinion and we are working closely with local authorities and fishermen to restore the abundance of Rayong’s sea.”

 

Meanwhile, Ecological Alert and Recovery Thailand (Earth) Foundation director Penchom Saetang said that despite increasing awareness of the 2013 spill, there were still many minor oil spills in the sea near Rayong, which signified insufficient efforts to prevent them.

 

“We have learned that in the past two years, there were 11 reports of oil spills in Thai waters,” Penchom said, adding that people affected by the 2013 spill “did not get proper compensation and have had to fight in the courts to sue for the recovery of the sea”.

 

She said: “We expect that there will be a greater chance of oil spills in Thai waters, as there is more petroleum drilling and oil transporting in our waters due to the growth of Eastern Economic Corridor. We need oil-spill prevention policies and a monitoring system that meets international standards.”

 

Penchom said PTTGC should conduct a full and transparent investigation of the incident to solve existing problems and learn how to prevent a similar disaster in the future. She also called on the government to draft a strict new law to directly address issues relating to oil spills.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30321893

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-07-27

[sandrabbit]

I was in my condo at hat Mae Rhumpung when the oil slick went past and at the time thought it was a hydrocarbon gas release from the IRPC chemical plant, it seems we dodged a bullet as it went steaming past and hit Koh Samed. 

 

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Nevertheless, PTTGC stated that it had cleaned up the oil spill within seven days and restored the marine environment to its normal state within three months.

I agree it was restored to it's overfished state as before. The picture makes things look desolate but I would guess those fishing boats were abandoned more than 4 years ago. My neighbor across the road still gets reasonable catches although I try not to eat anything that comes out of the sea here because of industrial pollution but if you walk in the shallows it is teeming with small fish. Different traders have been trying it on including souvenir sellers at Ban Phe pier and compensation was paid out to a lot of traders including some bars for the loss of business even though tourism was down anyway. 

 

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Rayong Bay a 'dead sea' for fishermen

It was long before the oil release it was like this due to overfishing, I've only seen sharks in captivity here.

[Beats56]

I go to a great seafood restaurant  at the fishing harbor  in Rayong to eat. The trucks come with barrels of live fish that go into the live fish tanks everyday.

Doesn't seem to be a shortage of fish from I have seen.

When you order fish that is the freshest 

You can get unless.you caught it your self.

 

[huangnon]

The Bay at Rayong has had dwindling fish stocks for as long as I've been here (20+ years).

I doubt that much planning, forethought, or sustainability has ever entered the equation, tbh. The supposedly "illegal" Halogen-light trawlers operating at night can't be helping matters either, I would imagine.

[LennyW]

Sounds like a prequel to a claim....smells fishy!!

[cumgranosalus]

Basically it is just one in a litany of mishaps and intentional breaches of environmental law that have occurred in the region.

 

The chemicals used to "disperse" the oil are often as damaging or even more so than the oils themselves. However it seems that on this occasion the substance used sent the oil to the seabed......with all the concomitant problems that generates. However on the surface, everything looks fine.

 

Thailand's industrial policies are a best haphazard and the decisions to set up one of the largest petrochemical industries  in Asia were taken decades ago. over the years it has been shown that dealing with the inevitable pollution problems engendered by this massive development have been pitiful.

 

pollution doesn't suddenly stop or disappear, it lingers and some of the more serious effects don't manifest themselves for decades...of course without proper accurate monitoring it is very hard to see precisely what is going on.....this is of course greatly appreciated by the industries - both National and International - in the area - they can save huge amounts of cash by not having to keep up safety and pollution standards.

 

[Gary A]

Is it any different than Pattaya Bay? Not many fish there either. Even the squid are overfished.

[cumgranosalus]

36 minutes ago, Gary A said:

Is it any different than Pattaya Bay? Not many fish there either. Even the squid are overfished.

You assume overfishing - why?

 

to overfish one usually needs industrial scale trawlers or dynamiting etc etc......Pattaya has ben a tourist centre now for decades with all the concomitant pollution problems and damage through tourism.

Rayong bay, despite the petrochemicals has manage to maintain a small localised fishing industry. How sustainable it was is difficult to demonstrate as Thailand is notorious for lack of monitoring and accompanying statistics. however - that the fish population is reducing seems pretty certain but to suggest "overfishing" as the cause or art least root cause would fly in the face of what information is available. It is far more likely that the damage to the eco-system caused by repeated oils spills and other pollutants is the underlying cause.

The entire coast from Bangkok to Chantaburi (even beyond) is subjrext to a considerable amount of manmade stress and the regions and bays are not isolated entities, pollution travels on wind tide currents land rivers etc etc.....and can be washed up and down the coast and back into the land at different points however the area from ban Chang to rayong is one of the largest petrochemical regions in Asia. furthermore plans have just been announced to start a massive expansion. actually this is already underway with te extension of roads to the region and the planned railways.

for fisheries and agriculture to survive right ext to this kind of industry there needs to be close monitoring and regulation......even if the people don't die, their product will be wothless once it is know where it has come from.

 

as you point out Pattaya is not far away and the threat of major industrial pollution can't be good for the tourist industry either.

[Gary A]

Sometime back I had the opportunity to go out overnight on a typical Thai fishing boat. I don't know exactly how much net they put out but it was at least a kilometer of gill net. The net was fastened to large outriggers. When they winched the net back in, there were only a handful of fish in it. It was certainly not worth the fuel and effort. That is what I base my opinion on that the Gulf of Thailand is fished out. We did catch quite a few squid that were attracted by the flood lights.

Edited August 19, 2017 by Gary A

[LennyW]

If you take a night flight to Malaysia you will see the overfishing in action from the gulf of Pattaya all the way round past Rayong, several thousand boats out every night - very distinctive with their green lights to attract the fish, , not that far offshore. 

 

Yes, overfishing for sure, no industrial trawlers or dynamite required here!!

[sandrabbit]

10 hours ago, cumgranosalus said:

You assume overfishing - why?

 

to overfish one usually needs industrial scale trawlers or dynamiting etc etc......Pattaya has ben a tourist centre now for decades with all the concomitant pollution problems and damage through tourism.

Rayong bay, despite the petrochemicals has manage to maintain a small localised fishing industry. How sustainable it was is difficult to demonstrate as Thailand is notorious for lack of monitoring and accompanying statistics. however - that the fish population is reducing seems pretty certain but to suggest "overfishing" as the cause or art least root cause would fly in the face of what information is available. It is far more likely that the damage to the eco-system caused by repeated oils spills and other pollutants is the underlying cause.

The entire coast from Bangkok to Chantaburi (even beyond) is subjrext to a considerable amount of manmade stress and the regions and bays are not isolated entities, pollution travels on wind tide currents land rivers etc etc.....and can be washed up and down the coast and back into the land at different points however the area from ban Chang to rayong is one of the largest petrochemical regions in Asia. furthermore plans have just been announced to start a massive expansion. actually this is already underway with te extension of roads to the region and the planned railways.

for fisheries and agriculture to survive right ext to this kind of industry there needs to be close monitoring and regulation......even if the people don't die, their product will be wothless once it is know where it has come from.

 

as you point out Pattaya is not far away and the threat of major industrial pollution can't be good for the tourist industry either.

It's overfished, all you you see are squid boats now, as fish disappear squid and jellyfish take over. It was overfished before the pollution and the water seems quite clean now with shoals of small fish in the shallows but just dig a metre down and see whats there. The thing that stands out is the lack of sharks, I've not seen one in 8 yrs here except in the aquarium or fish farm and in a sub tropical area as here there should be a lot of black tip & grey tip reef sharks. Not seen any rays either, they would be a premium on the table ..........

[sandrabbit]

9 hours ago, LennyW said:

very distinctive with their green lights to attract the fish

squid boats

[cumgranosalus]

I think people are confusing association and causation.

 

I think we all realise that one fishing trip is insufficient to draw any conclusions.

Have you seen the fishing fleets at Rayong? Have you seen the factory fleets in Malaysia and have you assessed their capacities?

It seems you are coming to your conclusion by one personal experience.

 

There is a general obfuscation going on here to confuse the effects of pollution or hide them, beneath the umbrella of overfishing. The implication being that the sudden decreases in fish caught near Map Ta put are caused by overfishing and not pollution - This I think is a far too simplistic - and convenient - assessment of the situation.....just an ill-considered get-out clause.

 

The sudden lack of local fish around Ban Chang and Map Ta Put is much more likely to be caused by or at least exacerbated by pollution. The local fishermen have put in catch figures that show a drop of up to 90% in some areas since the oil spill.

 

The are several misconceptions about who how and where the fishing is affected.  We are talking about fishing close to the shore - not the “deep sea” industrial scale fishing. The local fisheries include crabs, squid and small species of fish. A lot of the stuff you see drying of the racks along that coast.

The lights you see are often far out at sea and incidentally are not just squid boats - the lights attract all sorts of fish. Again it is the methods that cause overfishing - modern factory methods with advanced sonar destroy entire shoals in one gulp - this is not the kind of fishing that goes on the Ao Phrao bay.

 

It is also help to bear in mind that CLEAR water is a sign that there are no micro or smaller organisms floating around in it - and they are the base of the food chain.

 

Overfishing is a worldwide problem and it is caused largely by usually illegal factory fishing by bottom trawlers and long liners. These tend to stay well away from shore - often to avoid detection and supply mother ships well away from land..

    

Fish  stocks even in deep waters are affected by the land as most fisheries rely on Mangroves etc. as spawning grounds, hatcheries and nurseries. So Any damage to the environment along the coast can have a devastating effect.

 

(and looking into the ware  calling it clean and saying there seems to be little fish in it is just not a valid way of judging the effects of pollution (over 2 decades) on a fish population.

 

I would also refute or disregard any conclusions that are based on personal anecdotal experience.....this is a matter for careful statistical analysis. Or at least reasoned argument.

Unfortunately a lot of the data required is either not collated or further obfuscated by industry and the authorities so we are presented with a picture that needs to be assessed by a reasoned argument based on the ramifications environmental issues that have been established in that region. Glib citation of “overfishing” is not enough as it flies in the face of the conditions in the area and the rate of loss of fish stocks which have disappeared dramatically after the various oil leaks and discharges in the area.

 

Over fishing is a problem everywhere (it is almost a constant regarding all fisheries in the region and worldwide) but the effects of pollution can tip the scales especially on the inshore stocks that have supported the small boats used there.

 

Gulf of Siam and South China Seas are the most over-fished seas in the world as it is surrounded by billions of population.

 

"The Gulf of Thailand is one of the most exploited seas in the world when it comes to fishing. .out at seas Thai and Malaysian boats are engaged in commercial fishing on an industrial scale often supplying catches to mother ships from Malaysia or Vietnam...... quite different from the long tail boats and smaller (squid) fishing vessels around Map Ta Put and Ban Chang.

 

Overfishing implies an unsustainable fish stock - if you have 1 million fish and take out 1 million and one that is over fishing - if you stock is 10 and you take out nine that ain’t so bad, but you have to work out why there are only 10 fish.... but in the Rayong Bay we are looking at a sudden depletion in fish and crustacean stocks.

 

 

So, the last thing needed is oil/petrochemical pollution on top of that.

All fish stocks are stressed and as I said not simply by overfishing - external pressures from industry make it harder for fish to survive and continued or increased fishing will then exacerbate the situation.

 

 

Greenpeace warns that Thailand's marine ECOSYSTEM is on the verge of collapse, threatening the livelihoods of millions of traditional fishermen as well as the larger fisheries. ...and it is those “traditional” fishermen that are voicing their concerns about Map Ta Put.

 

Fish need to spawn and propagate is fish stocks are going to be sustainable and in the local waters off Rayong this can easily be interrupted by pollution from the industrial estates.

 

Consumption of fish in Malaysia increased by 150 per cent since 1961 as local reliance on fish as a major protein source increased.

Malaysians are the biggest consumers of seafood in Southeast Asia. Malaysian fish stocks have depleted by up to 90% in some areas - especially due to bottom trawling.......the case for the bay near Map ta put and Ban Chang is not the same, we are talking about small boats relying on a  local stock. Thailand has a larger vessels fleet in Rayong but it is the ones fishing close to land that are concerned.

Malaysian over fishing is done on an industrial scale - long lines (4 km) and bottom trawling are both extremely damaging to fish stocks but also to the environment - this is not the method used by the local small boats at Map Ta Put.

 

The development around Ban Chang and Rayong has lead to the destruction of huge areas of wetlands - this in turn has devastated fish populations in the region as Mangroves etc. are the breeding grounds for the majority of fish in the seas and oceans.

 

The situation is similar to Malaysia...“More than 75 per cent of the local marine stock come from mangrove forest but nearly 56 per cent of mangrove forests in the peninsular are gone due to development, so there are lesser nurseries for sea animals to breed now,” 

 

Overfishing therefore is part of a bigger picture - that of maintaining fish stocks and repeated pollution by the petrochemical industries around Chonburi and Rayong does not help at all.

 

These big commercial fleets have destroyed stocks of larger fish by up to 90% which in turn damages the spread of species by damaging the food chain, they are a “pollution” in themselves, but these are again the long liners and trawlers not the local traditional long-tail fishermen. But as I said earlier an already damaged ecosystem is en more susceptible to damage by such things as oil leaks.

 

So basically overfishing on an international scale means we should be all the ore concerned about oil spills and other pollutants damaging what little stock we have left.

[cumgranosalus]

On 8/19/2017 at 10:16 PM, sandrabbit said:

squid boats

Not only squid are attracted by light - it is a method used to attract all sorts of fish to the surface. However it is long lining and bottom trawling by factory ships that cause the most damage .

[cumgranosalus]

On 8/19/2017 at 10:15 PM, sandrabbit said:

It's overfished, all you you see are squid boats now, as fish disappear squid and jellyfish take over. It was overfished before the pollution and the water seems quite clean now with shoals of small fish in the shallows but just dig a metre down and see whats there. The thing that stands out is the lack of sharks, I've not seen one in 8 yrs here except in the aquarium or fish farm and in a sub tropical area as here there should be a lot of black tip & grey tip reef sharks. Not seen any rays either, they would be a premium on the table ..........

There changes in catch species are not squid they are a traditional catch - jellyfish are linked to pollution as most fish do not predate jellyfish....jellyfish predate fry and smaller organisms in the food chain