When a whole day of fishing at sea gave him only 1-2 kilogrammes of catch, Jaroen Toh-eetae knew he had to do something to stop the ravages of big trawlers.
That was 17 years ago. "I knew if we did nothing, there would be no future for us fisherfolk and our children,” said Mr Jaroen, a community leader at Tambon Tha Sala in Nakhon Si Thammarat province.
Until then, like millions of other fisherfolk along the coasts of the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, Mr Jaroen had helplessly watched big trawlers sweeping the sea clean with illegal fine-meshed nets, destroying the seabed, coral reefs, and habitats of young marine life with their destructive fishing gear.
Most of the boats were illegal. All were using illegal trawling equipment. Yet, the authorities turned a blind eye to their activities because of the money they earned and central government’s bias towards the seafood export industry.
The fight at Tha Sala Bay has been frustrating, but fruitful.
Illegal trawlers still abound, but they are now forced to operate five kilometres from the shore, allowing coastal marine life to recover.
Now, Tha Sala Bay's coastline is relatively healthy, and supports eight fishing villages and more than 10,000 families.
“My parents said it’s still far from what it used to be in their day. But I have no complaints,” said Mr Jaroen.
“The fish and other marine life that had disappeared have now returned. So have the villagers who left their homes to work in the city while the sea was empty.
“As fishermen, they make at least 1,000 baht a day. And much more during the prawn and crab seasons. As fishermen, they can stay with their families, work as free men and earn enough to give their children good educations.
“This is the kind of happiness we want. If the government wants us to be happy as they say, they have to listen to us.”
It’s not Mr Jaroen alone who wants to send this message to the military government and their “happiness campaign”.
The whole fisherfolk movement is now up in arms with the Fisheries Department’s efforts to give amnesty to all illegal trawlers in the hope it will stop Western trade partners accusing the fisheries industry of using illegal boats and boycotting their products.
The Fisheries Department is waiting for the junta to give its amnesty plan the nod of approval. Yesterday, the fisherfolk federation petitioned the junta to dismiss the amnesty move.
“Amnesty basically means legalising destructive trawlers,” said Mr Jaroen. “We will never let that happen.”
Once legalised, trawlers will become a menace again, particularly in areas where fisherfolk are not strong enough to counter them.
Mr Jaroen said Tha Sala Bay is lucky to have the local administrative body on the villagers’ side. “They understand locals’ grievances. This is not the case with officials sent from Bangkok.
The boss of our local administration gives us patrol boats and petrol to keep trawlers off our seas. It’s why decentralisation is important in our protection of natural resources,” he said.
Also, legalising trawlers will not stop seafood boycotts by consumers and retail chains in the West, he added.
He’s right. The scandalous use of forced and slave labour on fishing boats exposed by the Western media and subsequent threat of seafood boycotts have forced the Fisheries Department to come up with solutions. The amnesty will neatly serve the interests of the fishery and fishmeal industries, but it will not stop the boycott threat.
Another key reason for boycotting Thai seafood in the West is the use of destructive fishing gear. Valuable baby fish and young marine life are scooped up and sold as trash fish to the fishmeal industry. This is why agro giant CPF is in hot water. It is accused of buying trash fish from slave boats to produce fishmeal for their prawn farms.
As long as these trawlers still prowl the seas, their use of illegal fishing gear and overfishing methods will still provide grounds for a boycott of Thai seafood.
“What the authorities should do is stop environmentally destructive fishing altogether,” stressed Mr Jaroen. “It should not be allowed near the coast, nor out in the open seas.”
What has happened at Tha Sala Bay shows how the seas can quickly recover when they are free of trawlers.
“My son is a fisherman now, like his grandfather and I. If the sea is still healthy, my grandsons will be able to earn a living from the sea.
“That’s why we’ll continue to fight against trawlers — for our seas, for our way of life, for our future.”
Sanitsuda Ekachai is editorial pages editor, Bangkok Post.