Thailand
What qualifies me to comment?
Well nothing really! Not a single qualification in anything relevant to this subject matter. Apart from severe hyperactivity and my love of reading. Oh and I have spent the last two and a half of years of my life on, in and around talking about seagrass ecosystems. Much more interesting than “oilfield” content!
Thailand is the world’s first mass tourism destination. People have flocked to Phang Nga bay by their millions since the early 80’s. With promises of golden beaches, cheap, food, drink, accommodation, and a host of other delights to many to mention here. This sort of tourism would be called unsustainable in modern vocabulary.
The world on holiday!
Per square mile I believe Phang Nga bay to be one of the most overworked stretches of coast line in the world! Every inch of it is utilised for some sort of industry. Whether it be tourism, fishing, water sports or industrial applications.
Pretty right!!! mmmhh no they are all squid boats………..
How I can make this comment is, I have made it my mission to visit the majority of seagrass ecosystems that ring Phang Nga Bay with my drone and “Chrystelle” my sustainably capricious 1972 Mazda Astina.
I traveled without rose tinted glasses and what I saw, filled me with dread for the area and Thailand as a whole. Take number 10 for instance, is a seagrass bed located directly at the confluence of two rivers. Each river deposits a number of chemicals directly onto the seagrass bed and add that to that a large sea port. You can understand why that bed is red! These figures are not regularly updated so I can’t answer how much it has reduced since the last survey.
Now here we sit in the “new world” following Covid, with drastically reduced tourism number’s and one would think regenerated seagrass ecosystems. Well I counter that view, with the almost immediate cessation of tourism and a now huge unemployed population ringing the coast without a social welfare system. Where would you naturally think to find food or a job. The coastline. If I had to feed my family, I would take up fishing. Its the path of least resistance.
Ok so who is to say if im correct im dam sure these metrics have not been tracked. One thing I am sure of is the world wants to go on holiday. Im regularly updated by social media of increasing tourism numbers in places like Greece, Spain and Turkey.
The greatest part of no tourism for seagrass beds is the lack of boats. Longtail boats although a brilliant and cheap way to explore the island’s are inherently dangerous to seagrass beds. Leaving what some might think are dugong trails but are actually large scars within the bed’s. And then there is the oil from the engines. So yes no longtails great! But the tourists are coming like white walkers from behind the wall and so will the scars and oil.
How exactly do you quantify a seagrass ecosystem? I have spoken to hundreds of people on this particular idea with subject matter ranging from blue carbon, drone’s, tokenisation, stakeholder engagement the list goes on.
Still working on that one!
