Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 69
Yellow sweepers,
Parapriacanthus ransonneti
, swoop through a cavern beneath
one of the Mergui islands. Such small fi sh survive in abundance on the reef, but populations
of larger fi sh are rare.
east. Rice fi elds came right down to the garbage-free banks, and each neat vil-
lage that we passed was dominated by a gleaming golden stupa.
Because there has been so little industrialization along the Irrawaddy, the
water fl owing into the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea is not yet loaded
with the toxic chemicals that fi ll the other rivers of the region. But there is one
aspect of the Irrawaddy ecosystem that has been strongly af ected by human
activity. Fishermen now toil on its banks with very little result. Further up
the river, near the temple-fi lled valley of Bagan, I watched teams of fi shermen
