Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
considered wastelands and were indiscriminately cut down. It is estimated that about
80% of the mangrove forests lining the gulf coast and 20% of those on the Andaman
coast have been destroyed for conversion into fish and prawn farms, tourist development
or to supply the charcoal industry. Prawn farms constitute the biggest threat because
Thailand is the world's leading producer of black tiger prawns, and the short-lived, heav-
ily polluting farms are built in pristine mangrove swamps at a terrific environmental and
social cost. Prawn farms are big business (annual production in Thailand has soared from
900 tonnes to 277,000 tonnes in the past 10 years), and the large prawn-farming busi-
nesses are often able to operate in spite of environmental protection laws. Protesting
voices rarely get heard in the media.
Contributing to the deterioration of the overall health of the ocean are Thailand and its
neighbours' large-scale fishing industries, frequently called the 'strip-miners of the sea'.
Fish catches have declined by up to 33% in the Asia-Pacific region in the past 25 years
and the upper portion of the Gulf of Thailand has almost been fished to death. Most of
the commercial catches are sent to overseas markets and rarely see a Thai dinner table.
The seafood sold in Thailand is typically from fish farms, another large coastal industry
for the country.
Making a Difference
It may seem that the range of environmental issues in Thailand is overwhelming, but
there is actually much that travellers can do to minimise the impact of their visits, or to
even make a positive impact. The way you spend your money has a profound influence
on the kingdom's economy and on the profitability of individual businesses. Ask ques-
tions up front and take your money elsewhere if you don't like the answers. For instance,
a number of large-scale resorts that lack road access transport clients across fragile mud-
flats on tractors (a wantonly destructive practice), so when booking a room inquire about
transport to the hotel. Of the region's countless dive shops, some are diligent about min-
imising the impact their clients have on the reefs; however, if a dive shop trains and certi-
fies inexperienced divers over living reefs, rather than in a swimming pool, then it is
causing irreparable harm to the local ecosystem. As a rule, do not touch or walk on coral,
monitor your movements so you avoid accidentally sweeping into coral, and do not har-
ass marine life (any dead puffer fish you see on the beach probably died because a diver
poked it until it inflated).
