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Published on November 27, 2007

In the days before the tsunami, crab fishermen in Bang Lah would spend around Bt1,000 on fuel for each short boat trip. But the disaster dispersed the crabs from the inland waters close to their homes meaning they had to spend double that amount travelling in search of a satisfactory catch. Now, to replenish local stocks they've started a nursery to breed baby crabs in a "bank" closer to shore.

The nursery was established by villager Niruth Nide and fellow Bang Lah residents after they witnessed the success of a similar project in Chumphon, created in response to diminishing catches in the Gulf of Thailand. Chumphon's fishermen travel only five to six kilometres offshore to catch dozens of kilograms of crabs, while Niruth was taking home less than 10 kilos despite long expeditions that took him in sight of the Burmese mainland.

Bang Lah fishermen arrive at the bank with their catch of the day then place any crabs with eggs inside the floating baskets that have been secured to the seafloor. When the eggs hatch, baby crabs are washed back into the sea.

"The baby crabs that drift from the floating baskets represent a future where we're no longer crippled by high gasoline costs or risk being arrested [for inadvertently sailing into Burmese waters]," says Niruth.

The diminishing stocks closer to land have also driven some Thai seafood processing companies to secure their raw materials overseas, further threatening the fragile livelihoods of fishermen like Niruth.

The birth of the crab nursery was not a smooth process. Most villagers were against Niruth's idea at first. They couldn't envision how baby crabs could be incubated, grow up and, in time, to be caught along the shores. But Niruth didn't give up, eventually convincing four of his colleagues, and with them proposing the "crab bank" project to the Rak Thai Foundation.

The foundation granted them Bt60,000 in funds, which was spent on 20 old floating baskets. The group then placed egg-bound crabs from their catch into the seabed-secured baskets for 15 days.

After the eggs hatched, the members sold the mother crabs and ploughed the cash back into the project.

Eager to get more fishermen on board, they joined hands with research officers whose words would carry more weight with the villagers. The villagers learned that one mother crab carried 1.5 to 2 million eggs and could produce nearly a million baby crabs, of which around 1 per cent would make it to adulthood. The researchers also videotaped mother crabs giving birth inside the floating baskets. With the benefit of such an informative invitation, 50 more residents joined the project. Niruth also got some 30 sai thub fishermen to agree to use wider-hole fishing nets to protect the smaller crabs from over-fishing. From having little knowledge of how their actions were impacting the environment, the residents began developing an awareness of the need for conservation, Niruth says.

Preeda Chuthong, 42, one of the four original members of the project, says she realised that the community had to do something when the tsunami threatened its livelihood and agreed to join Niruth after he told her about the Chumphon crab bank.

The crab farm was an investment for a better future for their children, she says. Now villagers, seeing small crabs swimming among the sea grass, have confidence in the project.

"It's a sustainable future. The result of what we did is that the residents have realised the importance of the environment. They now see how they can act to conserve the surroundings on which they themselves depend," she says.

Rak Thai Foundation Manager Prasan Sathansathit says the Bang Lah Community was one among 27 singled out for rehabilitation and community-led development after the tsunami. "We listened to what they were interested in and then found other communities who had similar experiences they could learn from," Prasan says. "Now, whenever they catch a crab with eggs, they try their best to keep it alive and place it in the nursery. This new way of doing things could lead to other environment-conservation projects."

The foundation's next step is to increase the villagers' bargaining power. They themselves should price the crabs, urges Rak Thai, not the middlemen.

And Prasan's hope that the conservation work would spread has been met. Niruth's group realised that it needed to treat sewage before releasing it into the sea, understanding that water pollution will kill any baby crabs they help hatch.

Next in the pipeline is action to preserve the mangrove forest, something that should satisfy forest officials.

According to the Marine and Coastal Department, Phang Nga's Khura Buri district has eight major villages along the coast, with a total area of around 35,200 rai of mangrove forest. About 20,000 rai of the forestland is fertile while the rest is in a dilapidated state, some of it under rehabilitation projects, says Thuanpetch Sengcharoen, an official at the department's local mangrove forest development station.

Since the mangrove forest concession was revoked in 1993, the department has planted new trees in the depleted areas and trained residents through community networks to protect the mangroves, he says.

The station encouraged local community participation by inviting local residents to submit their own plans for managing the forestland around their villages.

As an example, Thuanpetch cites the case of Thung Na Dam village being given a zone of 3,000 rai of mangrove forest to protect and manage. The residents made this vast area a public space and encouraged tourism through conservation measures such as a ban on fishing.

Thuanpetch's job has been made a little easier now that the principles of conservation have trickled down to villagers like Niruth, who realises that preservation is the key to a sustainable way of life.

Chularat Saengpassa

The Nation

Phang Nga