THAILAND SPEED UP OPERATIONAL PLAN AND MANAGEMENT AT SURAT THANI REFUGIA SITE

@SEAFDEC (2022 May)

Mr. Somporn Kuasakul, Head of Fisheries Administration and Management Group of Surat Thani Fisheries Provincial Office and concurrently an Operational Fisheries Refugia Management Board member, introduced the background to the stakeholders and participants and the purposes of the workshop held on 30 May 2022. The workshop on Fisheries Refugia Operational Management at Surat Thani Site was organized following the issuances of Notification of Surat Thani Provincial Fisheries Committee Re: Prohibition of Some Fishing Gears Fishing in the Fishing Ground within the Coastal Seas around the Area of Koh Sed, Phum Riang Subdistrict, Chaiya District, Surat Thani Province, dated 8 March 2022 and Notification of Surat Thani Province No. 1963/2565 Re: Appointment of Operational Management Board for Fisheries Refugia in the Coastal Seas around the Area of Koh Sed, Phum Riang Subdistrict, Chaiya District, Surat Thani Province, dated 11 March 2022.

At the workshop, Mr. Itthiphon Kwathai, Director of Surat Thani Fisheries Provincial Office, expressed his great delight that the area of 5,625 Thai rai (9 km2) around Koh Sed was established as the fisheries refugia in Surat Thani Province. He stated that the area had been regarded as a significant fishing ground and nursery ground in the Gulf of Thailand, particularly for blue swimming crab resources. He noted that the SEAFDEC/UNEP/GEF Fisheries refugia project had contributed to the community ecosystem-based fisheries management toward the science-based information and consensus of fishers, government sectors, and all stakeholders. He is confident that the activities and discussion would improve fisheries management in Surat Thani Province, resulting in the sustainability of fisheries resources and fishing career and being a famous touristic spot worldwide. He also hoped fisheries refugia in Surat Thani Site would be a best practice for other areas in the country and the South China Sea Region.

The brainstorming session for drafting the operational management plan in fisheries refugia around Koh Sed of Surat Thani Site was led by Mr. Akanit Kuapuag, a workshop facilitator. Initially, urging all stakeholders to identify boundaries for the management area and stakeholders involved, followed by stakeholder analysis, issues, and challenges of fisheries management in the area in three dimensions: ecosystem, communities, and good governance. An extensive discussion about the management area, core problems, goals, objectives, management actions, indicators, and benchmarks in each issue. In conclusion, compositions of management plan in fisheries refugia around Koh Sed of Surat Thani Site were drafted and summed up.

In addition, another Workshop on fisheries refugia boundary marking at the Site was conducted back-to-back by Surat Thani Fisheries Provincial Office on 31 May 2022 at the fisheries refugia site around Koh Sed in Chaiya District of Surat Thani Province. This second-day workshop is aimed at being the initial activity for operational management at the Surat Thani fisheries refugia site and for strengthening the cooperation of fishers, civil society, and community organizations in the direction of the fisheries refugia concept.

Besides the activities at sites, not only the deployment of boundary marking buoys, a total of 1,000,000 blue swimming crab megalops, provided by Viya Crab Products Co., Ltd., and 300,000 penaeid shrimp post larvae by Surat Thani Coastal Aquaculture Research and Development Center were released in the refugia sites align with the fisheries resource enhancement policy.

The activities were aerial recorded using a drone from the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) and aerial photographed by the members of Paramotor Club Surat Thani. For more information, please visit:https://fisheries-refugia.org/refugia-country-activities/refugia-thailand

@PCU, September 2022