Sandy beaches and fishing wars in the Gulf of Thailand.

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Sandy beaches and fishing wars in the Gulf of Thailand.

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     The Gulf of Thailand's hot sunny days, pristine sandy beaches and exotic marine life hide a more sinister activity:  ruthless fishing wars.

      Fifty year old Suphakit Tanbut has built up a thriving fishing business there,  He lives with his family on Bangkok's Chao Phraya river front next to his boatyard, fishing throughout the Gulf and deep into Indonesian waters.  Six years ago, he increased his fleet: he bought a new blue Wadang trawler (see pic). 

     These tough boats are  the workhorses of fishing right across Thailand's coast. The boats take up to forty fishermen to haul in the heavy fishing nets manually and the fishermen get to sleep in shifts on hammocks in the cramped sleeping quarters.  Wadang trawlers are sturdy enough to travel as far as the lush Indonesian fishing waters.     

     But there is huge competition among the different fishing fleets for the diminishing stocks of large fish. Battles break out everyday.  Fishermen may even get killed and their bodies thrown overboard. 

     Last year, Suphakit and his crew sailed down the coast towards the Indonesian fishing waters.  They reached Chonburi, about 100 kilometres from Bangkok.  There his boat encountered a hostile local fleet which had already cast their fishing nets.  Warning shots were fired. Suphakit ignored them.

     Suddenly he was confronted by a Lat Koo boat sailing directly for him.  These much larger iron ships can stay out at sea for years, collecting, storing and freezing the catch of all the Wadang trawlers.  They are known locally as mother boats:  they should be called the killer bees of the fishing wars.

     It is difficult to steer away rapidly from one of these Lat Koo boats. The Lat Koo made directly for the bows of Suphakit's trawler and badly damaged it  by breaking the spine of the bows(see pic). The local fleet were clearly bent on completely scuttling his boat.  But he managed to slip away.

     Suphakit was lucky.  Although seriously damagd, the boat was still just about sea worthy, and he got his sister boat to tow him along the coast, back towards the Chao Phraya River.

     Further south, Indonesian fishermen can be just as vicious in the competition for fish. The Indonesian government tries to keep the peace:  it controls the conflicts through expensive fishing licences and forcing Thai boats to sell their catch locally.  But few Thai boats take the licences.  They prefer to bribe the willing and resourceful Indonesian marine patrol units to let them in unhindered.  No bribe:  no fishing!  And the Indonesian authorities are powerless to do much to stop these bribes.

     Thai fishermen get arrested each year for not paying.  Wittaya Chaisuwan, from the Thai embassy in Indonesian, believes hundreds of Thai crew get picked up and sent to local Indonesian jails. Indonesia's Marine Affairs Minister, Rokmin Dahuri,  said that over 3,000 illegal vessels failed to pay last year.

     Thai boatowners who get arrested lose their boats.  The wadangs get auctioned off locally.  The crews might be imprisoned for months before being released.  But Indonesia also suffers. It loses the licence fees and often the fish the Thais catch since the fishermen undercut Indonesia by selling directly to Japan, their biggest customer for the fish.

     This has been going on for years;  ever since the Eighties.  

     Sonsang Patavanich, president of thye Thai Overseas Fisheries Association, said:  "Indonesia accused us of being offenders for a long time.  That's because our boats are better equiped with high-tech fishing devices.....and we can catch more fishes than them".

     Suphakit was lucky.  He lost his boat but he is still fishing.  He understands the risks of going where he isn't wanted.  But he has taken a massive drop in profits and forty fishermen have lost their livelihoods.