Disgusted by state of Thailand’s seas, minister orders agencies to take immediate action

[Accidental Tourist]

This is the price you pay for MASS TOURISM...especially the Chinese. Plus the infrastructure is not in par with the development of hotels and other living quarters, which in those areas are all related to tourism.

[oobar]

5 hours ago, jonclark said:

I totally understand where you are coming from. And wouldn't defend the actions of dumping or burning etc. But can you tell me what the weekly rubbish collection by the authorities is like. I ask as in my in laws village that all do the same as you mentioned, but there is absolutely no centralised or regular collection of rubbish so they are all left to get rid of it by themselves and most of them as you have observed do this badly. Perhaps some investment and regular collection of rubbish is needed.

This is indeed the problem.  I live in extremely rural area of Sisaket and can go no further than a hundred meters along any of these dirt back roads without finding piles of rubbish and garbage, including huge amounts of plastic bags, bottles, baby diapers and endless other "forever" cast-off stuff.  But there are a couple of reasons for this:  There is no collection point or service of any kind, and most in the rural population do not have the means (as in a pickup) to haul their garbage to the amphur, as we do.  Until there is a serious governmental effort, Thailand's rural lands will continue to be trashed out to the extreme.

[fredwiggy]

Just now, oobar said:

This is indeed the problem.  I live in extremely rural area of Sisaket and can go no further than a hundred meters along any of these dirt back roads without finding piles of rubbish and garbage, including huge amounts of plastic bags, bottles, baby diapers and endless other "forever" cast-off stuff.  But there are a couple of reasons for this:  There is no collection point or service of any kind, and most in the rural population do not have the means (as in a pickup) to haul their garbage to the amphur, as we do.  Until there is a serious governmental effort, Thailand's rural lands will continue to be trashed out to the extreme.

Same as here. If they cared, they could bag everything (rice bags) and get someone with a pickup (most everyone in farming areas) to haul it out weekly to the nearest city. Chip in for gas, and the area wouldn't be  littered with decaying garbage that is a health hazard.

[jvs]

13 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

Chip in for gas,

That would be a problem.

[fredwiggy]

Just now, jvs said:

That would be a problem.

True. I live on a dirt road where maybe 6 or 7 tractors go by daily, where people drive cars, trucks and scooters, and where a tractor could, in maybe 20 minutes time, flatten out the road so there aren't any potholes and slippery deep mud. Yet no one has the common sense to alleviate this problem, but just dodge the holes and sometimes fall off the scooters while sliding around in the mud. Might cost 30 baht of gas and a few minutes time.

[jvs]

Yes it is bad here,have you been to the philipines?

Even worse,it is all over Asia.It will take a few more generations before the people start to realise

they need to do something.Thirty years ago i visited Spain and Portugal,same problem but much better now.

I was in the cha-am harbour and saw fishing boats being serviced(yes serviced)

only problem was the used motor oil was just let go into the water!

[off road pat]

20 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

I shudder to think of trash cleanup being done in the waters of the Andaman sea by Thailand without some assistance from someone who can ensure no more damage is done.  However, Thailand will hire all the divers it can find, put them in a line and have them swim in quadrants to pick up the trash, and of course only pay them 300 baht per day.

No, Divers have one or several cleanup days every year and take out ton's of plastic, discarded fishing nets and so much more !!! and that is all divers farang and Thais !!!!

[off road pat]

6 hours ago, canopy said:

Good assessment by the minister and good actions taken with immediate effect. Refreshing to see someone blame humans rather than just chalk it up to global warming and do nothing. If those things can be enforced, the reefs will benefit a great deal.

 

"According to these rules, people are prohibited from parking their boats near coral reef of Koh Phayam, as well as disposing wastewater or poisonous things into the sea. Fishing near the specified reefs is also prohibited",...This will be respected just like the helmet laws for motorbikes !!!!.....

All those things and much worse divers see at a regular basis when they go diving !!! Thai tourist boats dropping there anchors on the corals to be as close as possible for there customers !!!

[RichardColeman]

I think Thai will only start being concerned about their own pollution and damage to the seas when they start either being served seafood with plastic in it, or being told all the sea food has gone

[CorpusChristie]

4 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Simply calling out a liar,

Who have you caught telling lies this time ?

[spidermike007]

2 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

Who have you caught telling lies this time ?

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa has instructed related state agencies to take immediate steps to protect marine resources that have been damaged by fishing. 

 

Varawut. We all know this is a blatant lie. He will do absolutely nothing. In two weeks, all will be forgotten. 

[CorpusChristie]

5 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa has instructed related state agencies to take immediate steps to protect marine resources that have been damaged by fishing. 

 

Varawut. We all know this is a blatant lie. He will do absolutely nothing. In two weeks, all will be forgotten. 

How do you know that its a lie ?

How do you know what he will do in the future ?

[ThailandRyan]

1 minute ago, CorpusChristie said:

How do you know that its a lie ?

How do you know what he will do in the future ?

Think deeply grasshopper and remember the past is always an indication of the future.  Past actions speak louder than his words and indicate lip service only.

[CorpusChristie]

2 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Think deeply grasshopper and remember the past is always an indication of the future.  Past actions speak louder than his words and indicate lip service only.

I see, another *Hes lying, he always tells lies, hes a liar* kind of post .

They seem to be quite frequent here on TVF and its quite unpleasant to keep reading about liar accusations 

[Rancid]

Agencies immediately responded by forming committees to study the matter. Their reports should be finalized in 6 - 12 months, when hopefully they will have a new Minister who won't read them.

[smew]

As always, talk and more talk.. and later blame tourists. Fine them 100K as often as you can income split.

  

[ChipButty]

8 hours ago, jonclark said:

I totally understand where you are coming from. And wouldn't defend the actions of dumping or burning etc. But can you tell me what the weekly rubbish collection by the authorities is like. I ask as in my in laws village that all do the same as you mentioned, but there is absolutely no centralised or regular collection of rubbish so they are all left to get rid of it by themselves and most of them as you have observed do this badly. Perhaps some investment and regular collection of rubbish is needed.

In the moo baan where I live they do a great job with the rubbish collection twice a week and they dont leave half of it on the road we do pay 480 Baht per year to me it's well worth it, most of my neighbours are farang they also pay but I have one neighbour who doesn't pay as she uses my bin

[spidermike007]

1 hour ago, CorpusChristie said:

How do you know that its a lie ?

How do you know what he will do in the future ?

How long have you lived here? How often have we seen promises like this? This current administration is infamous for pledges, declarations, proclamations and promises. Few are even remembered, much less followed up upon two weeks later.

 

Feel free to cite some environmental promises that were followed up on, if you can. Otherwise, this is just a pedantic high school level debate, and you are advocating for men with a staggering level of incompetence and indifference toward their land, water and the common man. 

[bodga]

3 hours ago, Yinn said:

Tomorrow if not rain me and freind will go beach collect rubbish. The bashers will complain.

and right back at you.........then where does that  rubbish  go? my rubbish goes in the bin provided by YOUR govt..actually  they didnt provide me with one despite all in the  village getting one, I asked but they "forgot" so i went out and bought my own WITH a  lid  on rather than one of their open top ones the ones that when  do get used  are often overflowing out  and over the side onto the floor.

Where my rubbish  doesnt go is at the side of the road, in the nearest hedge or on some vacant  land because im not so lazy as to throw it anywhere I  please.

Instead of constantly mentioning  about other countries, a  common tactic,  why not FOCUS  on your own peoples, the majority of which OUTSIDE  of the cities dump rubbish everywhere, always trying to shift the  problem back to "our countries" wherever that may be.

What the local govt do with the rubbish after its been in  my  bin I have no idea and  cannot control.

You  picking up rubbish  on a beach, it comes from who? Thais  by far the majority.

[bodga]

3 hours ago, Nanaplaza666 said:

Only the stray dogs problem doesn't have anything to do with the filthy enviroment

it does because they leave the styrofoam containers/plastic  bags with food  in on the ground for the dogs to eat.

[pkspeaker]

The first thing they need to do is clean-up these patches of sewage I always see floating or washing up on the beach when I'm in KoChang.. many days I could not swim because I could see it out there.. they should enlist the navy in an attempt to stop it at it's sources and to patrol around and clean up the patches as they form in the water.

[CorpusChristie]

45 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

 

Feel free to cite some environmental promises that were followed up on, if you can. Otherwise, this is just a pedantic high school level debate, and you are advocating for men with a staggering level of incompetence and indifference toward their land, water and the common man. 

1 .The removal of properties which encroach on public land 

2 .Removing street food sellers (which polluted the streets)

3 .Ban on smoking in buildings and beaches .

4 .Have tried (and failed) to stop the burning 

5 . Clamping down on vehicles which emit bad pollution 

[metisdead]

Off topic deflection posts and the replies have been removed.

 

A post containing unsubstantiated information has been removed. 

[runamok27]

This, along with all of the other problems here, will NEVER be solved because there is NO enforcement whatsoever for any laws they have. The West is no different. When I was a kid, people would throw all kinds of garbage everywhere then the $500USD fine for littering signs starting popping up everywhere and people were actually getting fined so the wanton littering stopped. Even with that, you can go up in the foothills around the SF Bay Area and find dump sites all over the hills. 

[Yinn]

8 hours ago, CorpusChristie said:

1 .The removal of properties which encroach on public land 

2 .Removing street food sellers (which polluted the streets)

3 .Ban on smoking in buildings and beaches .

4 .Have tried (and failed) to stop the burning 

5 . Clamping down on vehicles which emit bad pollution 

6. No plastic bag, Tesco, Big C, 7/11.

[Albert Zweistein]

Good morning Mr. Silpaarcha.

[bodga]

6 minutes ago, TERMINATOR3AB said:

.but  have no choice really

yes they do, you  hang on to it until you find  the correct  place and thats where laziness comes in,  just drop it  on the  floor.

[bodga]

4 hours ago, Yinn said:

6. No plastic bag, Tesco, Big C, 7/11.

They are not the main culprits, the streetfood sellers  all  hand out the stuff  like confetti  still many replies  seem to focus  on BKK theres  a  whole world of Thailand outside where a  lot  of this goes on  unmentioned and as the norm

Edited September 26, 2020 by bodga

[ChrisY1]

On 9/25/2020 at 7:08 PM, holy cow cm said:

This guy just actually may be one of the good ones. I hope I am right, his dad was a powerhouse for sure.

He sure has the right name...

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Natural Resources and Environment Minister -- What??? The seas are polluted? In Thailand? Really???

 

I guess I'd better talk to the Natural Resources and Environment Minister pretty darned quick!

 

Ooopss.... That's ME!!!  How did THAT happen?