Pattani, one of Thailand’s three restive southernmost provinces, invokes images of violence instigated by insurgency.
However, the province also has its bright sides. One of its brighter aspects is its small-scale local fishery industry which has served as a model for sustainable fishing for the country.
Pattani is lucky to have a long coastal area and clean environment, without heavy factories discharging polluted water or other waste into the sea.
The Pattani Gulf has the richest hatchery and spawning sanctuary in the country. Meanwhile, the fishing industry has been major source of jobs for Muslim villagers.
Six out of 13 districts in the province are located along the coast, with the number of fisheries workers exceeding 80,000.
Moreover, Pattani is the only province in the country where the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives has issued a ministerial regulation preventing trawlers from using destructive push-nets to fish within four nautical miles of the coastline.
The ban was partly the work of local fishers who have protested against destructive fishing gear for over 30 years. The ban helps keep trawlers away from fishing too close to coastal areas, which the local community and fisherfolk rely on to make a living.
“People from outside will only think of violence and insurgency when they hear the name of our province. Yet, if people come to rural fishing communities in our province, they’ll see life is relatively normal. Local fisherfolk still catch fish as usual,” said Sulaiman Sala-oh, president of the “Chao Lay School” (Sea Gypsy School of Fishery).
A press trip was arranged by the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) with the intention of helping promote peace and boost livelihoods in the restive southern provinces.
Chao Lay School serves as a famous model for sustainable fishing and the Fishery Department has even brought officials and experts to help.
Founded by local fishers, the school is in tambon Ban Klang in Panare, a coastal district about 50 kilometres from Muang Pattani municipality.
Among the much-visited sites is the “Horse Crab Bank” that comprises of two-horse crab hatchery projects.
Panare has been famous for its horse crab products that are fresh and grown in a clean environment and caught by environmentally friendly catching methods.
Local fishermen in Panare have their own way of preserving their famous crab stocks. They have developed the community’s horse crab hatchery project to replenish small crab stocks into the sea.
Usually, fisherfolk will remove mature eggs from crabs and put them in separate baskets nearby the sea for weeks before releasing these eggs into the sea.
The community’s horse crab conservation project was given a boost a few years ago when the agro titan Charoen Phokphand provided artificial intelligence (AI) hatchery equipment to Chao Lay School.
The AI horse crabs’ eggs hatchery will have a programme to adjust light, temperature and chemical quality of water to help preserve and hatch horse crab eggs. The AI hatchery helps fishers save time by separating only mature eggs.
Mr Sulaiman said the local fishery community is also learning online marketing to send products to customers directly.
Local fishery has become the new hope for the poor province as many villagers have returned to take up fishing over the past few years.
Fish stocks have increased thanks to the previous military-appointed government’s resolve to tackle illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
One of the measures, which has been in place since 2017, was the banning of large commercial trawlers and destructive fishing gear from fishing within 4 nautical miles off the coastline.
Mr Sulaiman said the ban provides as a major shot in the arm for small-scale local fisheries across the country. While Pattani had placed a ban on push-net trawlers since 2004, the recent ban targets all large-scale trawlers.
“After the major ban against IUU was put in place two years ago, local fisherfolk have been able to make a lot of money,” Mr Sulaiman said. “Villagers who left the province to work in Malaysia have now returned because they can find jobs again. The fishing industry has returned to being a major source of income for local people now.”
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