(WDRCF/82/WP6)

ANNEX J
COUNTRY SITUATION PAPER — THAILAND

The Status of the Rural Coastal Fisheries in Thailand

1. INTRODUCTION

In a tropical country like Thailand where fish abound in the natural waters both in the sea and in rivers and lakes, fish catching is the main engagement of people dwelling along the coastal area of the kingdom and is a part of a subsistence life of most of the rural inhabitants. Almost without exception, every adult rural inhabitant regardless of sex knows by life-time experience how to use at least one of several fishing gears. Fish and fishery products are the cheapest source of animal protein especially vital to the lower income bracket communities of the country.

A total number of 1 500 marine fishing villages are scattered along the 2 525 km long coastline of which about 1 785 km border the Gulf of Thailand and 740 km are on the edge of the Andaman Sea. These marine fishing communities are generally located in estuarine areas, where the natural fish resources are comparatively richer than other parts of the sea. The level of development of these communities varies from one to the other. The general characteristics are that most houses are single-roomed, wooden, simple, usually self-constructed, using either bamboo or mangrove tree with a thatched palm roof, or wood with a roof of tin or asbestos. These houses are normally sited in clusters or elongate areas next to a mangrove forest, a beach, a canal or a river bank, averaging between 50 to 150 households. Traditional fishing communities are frequently isolated both geographically and socially, and the standard of living of traditional fishing households are relatively low.

Traditional fishing communities usually operate simple fishing gears such as small gillnet, push net, cast net, scoop net, hook and line and other light gears.

Fishing vessels are small with or without an engine. The mechanized craft are mainly equipped with outboard engine of low horsepower for only near shore operation not far from the base. A fishing trip usually averages one day or one night. Ice is not used on board.

Catch per fishing unit and productivity per fisherman are therefore relatively low. The catch most often does not enter large organized markets, but is sold at dispersed points of landing or even at sea. Part or all of the catch is consumed by the operator and his family.

The total fish landings showed a great fluctuation during 1947–1949 (Table 1). Prior to 1960's, the annual fish landings of Thailand stood only at 161 024 tons for 1974, then it was gradually increased to 576 986 tons by 1964. Since then due to the introduction of otterboard trawl fishery to Thailand, marine fish catches has experienced considerable increases from half a million tons in 1964 to one million tons in 1968, and further reached two million tons each for 1977 and 1978. The evidence is confirmed by the Marine Fisheries Division, Department of Fisheries, Thailand, from its annual monitoring survey of the demersal fish stocks in the Gulf of Thailand. From this survey, it has been shown that the catch per unit of effort had drastically reduced from about 300 kg per hour in 1961 to only around 50 kg per hour in 1977 (Table 2). It is expected that this declining trend of fish yield will continue to persist in the future.

Source: Fisheries Record of Thailand from 1974–1978. Department of Fisheries, Thailand

Thus, the small-scale capture fisheries in Thailand plays a minor role in the fishing industry of the country. From statistical records in 1974–1980, it can be seen that contribution from this subsector was only 82 000 tons in 1974, increased to 130 000 tons in 1976, but decreased to 119 000 tons in 1978. Fish landings then showed an increase again to 136 000 tons in 1979 but then decreased again in 1980. Compared with the total marine production, small-scale fisheries subsector contributed less than 10 percent of the total marine production (Tables 3, 4 and 5).

Small-scale fishermen have also a vital role to play in coastal aquaculture. The current aquaculture practices are mainly performed by small-scale fishfarmers in estuarine areas both in the Gulf of Thailand and on the Andaman Sea side. The annual production from coastal aquaculture contributes about 10 percent of the total marine products (Table 5).

Recent statistics on employment within the marine fishing industry indicated that there had been a reduction trend in the number of fishing households ranging from 50 968 in 1967 to 38 702 in 1973; but in 1976 a slight increase to 40 198 was observed. Subsistence fishing households had similarly reduced from 35 940 to 25 558 for the same period. On the other hand, enterprise households had increased from 2 752 in 1967 to 6 311 in 1976 (Table 6).

The fishing industry plays a relatively important role in the national economy of Thailand. During the early phase of marine fisheries development from 1963 to 1972, it had contributed about 1 to 4 percent of GNP. After this phase however, the percentage contribution of the fisheries subsector to GNP was at 7 percent in 1973, then increasing to 13.7 percent in 1980 (Table 7).

* Region I: Eastern Inner Gulf Provinces: Trat, Chanthaburi and Rayong
Region II: Inner Gulf Provinces: Chonburi, Chachoengsao, Samut Prakarn, Samut Sakhon, Samut Songkhram, Phetchaburi and Prachuan Khiri Khan
Region III: Southern Provinces: Chumphon, Surat Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat
Region IV: Southernmost Provinces: Songkhla, Pattani and Narathiwart
Region V: (Andaman Sea) Ranong, Phang Nga, Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Satun

Source: Fisheries Statistics Section, Department of Fisheries, Thailand

n.a.: not available
* Source: Fisheries Statistics Section, Department of Fisheries, Thailand

Unit: 1 000 tons

*Source: Fisheries Statistics Section, Department of Fisheries, Thailand

*Source: Fisheries Statistics Section, Department of Fisheries, Thailand

e = Estimate

*Source: National Income of Thailand. Office of the national Economic and Social Development Board, Office of the Prime Minister, Bangkok, Thailand.

2. DEVELOPMENT UNDERTAKINGS

In the past, the Government of Thailand had given a higher priority to the objective of increasing fish production in marine fisheries development. This has resulted in the creation of a capital-intensive industrial trawl fishery which is technologically far more advanced than the rural fishing sub-sector. This imbalanced development has lead to the unequal distribution of natural resources and therefore monetary gains among the fisheries subsectors concerned. This situation is further worsened by the fact that the economically better off commercial fishery subsector thrives at the expense of the rural fishery subsector. The Government of Thailand therefore is now placing high priority to the improvement of the social and economic conditions in poor rural communities. Under the current National Economic and Social Development Plan (the Fifth Plan 1980–1986), the Government has allocated a massive budget for rural development programmes. Priority areas have been selected where concerted efforts are being made to upgrade small-scale fisheries. Though the present stage of development varies from one area to another, the two problems common to most rural communities are low income and high unemployment. To increase income by increasing catch might only be possible for the short-term, but it would tend to create more problems in the long-term since in most areas coastal resources are believed to be in a state of depletion. It is therefore generally considered that coastal aquaculture could offer a useful alternative source of employment and supplementary income to these needy communities.

The Department of Fisheries, Thailand, has already in collaboration with the SCSP prepared two small-scale fisheries development projects, but so far only one of them is currently being implemented. The ongoing project has progressed very successfully. The participation from both the villagers and the provincial government is very active, and after the termination of the project and the withdrawal of external assistance, the provincial government is prepared to provide the continuity of the potentially beneficial activities.

A new seafarming project in Surat Thani Province is being formulated together with the SCSP. It is believed that this new project will be implemented soon.

3. PROBLEMS PRESENTLY CONFRONTING THE SMALL FISHERMEN

As it is well known, rural fishing communities are in most cases isolated both geographically and socially. The livelihood of small-scale fishermen depends almost solely on the natural resources around them. Exploitation in the absence of any management measure has resulted in the depletion of the available fisheries resource. In the case of most coastal areas the small rural fishermen are all feeling the pinge of overfishing and the declining abundance of the resources. The adverse effects of overexploitation of resources to the small-scale subsector are much more serious than to the commercial-scale subsector, since reduction in catch per unit of effort create more problems both economically and socially to the small-scale fishermen than to the commercial-scale fishermen.

Owing to the anticipated change in the sea regime, all coastal states are expected to proclaim their exclusive fishing rights to distant waters. Under the circumstance, most of the Thai commercial fishing fleet has to confine their operations within Thai territory waters. This has already created another serious problem to the small-scale fishermen, since they have to compete with the commercial-scale fishing units in national waters where the fish abundance is already far too low to be viable to exploit. In this process of competition, both subsectors have tried their best to harvest more fish. Very often illegal fishing with the use of poisons and/or dynamite is carried out further to the detriment of the future of the resources.

Industrialization has also created considerable problem to small-scale fishermen due to the adverse effects of industrial effluents polluting the coastal areas. It appears that in most developing countries, the betterment of one activity is almost invariably at the expense of the other. In most cases, this has largely been due to a lack of integration in planning. In the small-scale fisheries the situation is further handicapped by the low to almost negligible status of the communities.

Small-scale fishermen in Thailand are classified in the lowest group both in economic and social strata. The general characteristics of small-scale fisheries in Thailand are similar to those of the rural fisherfolks in other countries, involving a large average size of individual household of 6–7 members, low income, low education, malnutrition, lack of the basic survival essentials and other problems arising from low standard of living.

One major problem confronting the small-scale fishermen is the potential political instability in their areas. This issue is particularly applicable to those communities located in border areas. To overcome this and other problems, a sufficient income and a manageable occupation are of prime importance. Since fishing is a highly specialized field and also a very risky venture, it would be to the advantage of the Government to re-engage such skilled manpower forces in another fishery sector offering a greater income-generating power and requiring some of the skills and experiences of the operators. To encourage such human resources to be transferred to outside fisheries appears to be unwise for both political and socio-economic reasons.

4. DISCUSSION

It is evident that the major problem in the small-scale fisheries subsector has arisen from the rapidly declining trend of the resources as a result of the absence of fisheries and resource management measures. To alleviate this problem, there are two possible approaches:

1. direct approach by meaningful and useful fishery law enforcement; and

2. indirect approach by creating alternative job opportunities for the small-scale fishermen.

It is necessary to reduce excessive fishing effort in an attempt to revive the fish resources to a feasible level. This can be done by the strict enforcement of the fishery law, including a licensing system, limited entry and other measures to reduce the current fishing pressure. The reaction from the people involved however, would tend to be negative which is unfavourable to administrators and also to politicians in particular.

The indirect approach is primarily concerned with the creation of new alternative job opportunities for small-scale fishermen. This approach includes the rehabilitation by various possible means the resources through the creation of artificial reefs to create sanctuaries for the revival of the fish stocks. It also encourages the promotion of coastal aquaculture and other job opportunities both in the field of fisheries and in other industries.