(Thailand) - The Mae Klong River has for centuries flowed tirelessly in and out of the Gulf of Thailand providing the local people many jobs including the relatively new fish farmers.
Locals in Samut Songkhram were one of the earliest local communities in Thailand to take action in water quality conservation. Praised for their ingenious approach to water management, the innovative design put together by the locals allows water to pass through a gate that can be opened from the top and bottom, allowing brackish water to flow in and accumulate sediment which is then used as fertilizer, benefitting both agricultural and aquatic farmers in this unique estuarial region. In spite of this successful fix, the fish farmers continue to face serious threats.
“The river is much murkier than it used to be when I first started this business,” comments the owner of Prapapan Fish Farm. “Over the past two to three years, it has been getting worse and my yields are decreasing.”
Much like other medium-sized fish farms in that area, Prapapan Fish Farm cultivates barramundi, dubbed the “two-water fish” by the locals. Barramundi is prized for its tolerance to salinity change, because they can live in both seawater and freshwater, making this species the perfect choice in this estuary’s area where salinity levels change almost hourly.
Problems for the barramundi and the farmers come from some one hundred kilometers up the Mae Klong River, in the provinces of Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi.
“Agricultural farmers in the northern provinces adapt intensive farming methods with heavy usage of chemicals. That is what is killing my fish,” states the Prapapan boss. Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi are major producers of sugar from sugar cane and other intensive agricultural products including Thailand’s largest crop rice. The waste from sugar factories gets dumped into the river with almost no governmental control. To make matters worse, Thailand’s fierce annual rainy season washes the chemicals and fertilizers used in northern agricultural production downstream, and the pollution asphyxiates fishes, through the resulting algae booms and increases in bacteria, all degrading the local water quality.
When asked what fish farmers do to defend against poor water quality, the owner comments, “There many more fish farmers like me all along this river. Whenever it rains heavily, the fish farmers further north up the river would give a call and tell us that bad water is coming, its numjai (kindness). We have no choice but to sell our fishes at a lower price for not being fully grown, but that is better than selling a dead fish. We can only sell dead fishes for 30% or less of the price it would be if it is alive.”
Barramundi is seen as the ‘green salmon’ as they feed on both plants and fishes, in contrast to salmon which feed at the top of the food chain. It takes much more input to grow one kilogram of salmon compared to a barramundi. With global fish stocks threatening to crash in the foreseeable future, more people are looking towards alternative fishing methods that would yield enough fish while giving time for fish stocks to recover, before hitting a critical tipping point.
“Fortunately there is high demand for our fishes, even right here in the Ampawa market,” says the wife of the owner of Prapapan Fish Farm. “All of the restaurant owners in the market knows all the fish farmers and they say tourists enjoy the quality of fish dishes we provide.”
Reflecting on the future, the concerned Prapapan owner said, “The Department of Aquaculture has been doing great in terms of testing water quality and publishing papers, but we want to see them and the government implementing stricter rules on waste from factories and better water management in the northern provinces. Our lives have depended on clean water for generations. We can’t live without it.”
Today, the Ampawa floating market and its surrounding riverside villages remains one of the most popular floating markets in the country, with its distinct traditional Thai culture and its sought-after hearty seafood. The future of global fish stocks seems dim, but with consideration in the choices we make as consumers for our seafood meals and with efforts to improve aquaculture, there is still time to save what is left and replenish the oceans.
»
Back to Original Article