Somsak Boromthanarat’s research while affiliated with Prince of Songkla University and other places

As a result of declining and overfished small-scale nearshore fisheries in Southeast Asia, there are increasing conflicts and social tensions between and among different user groups, leading to coastal “fish wars”. A challenge facing fishers, resource managers and national decision makers in the region is to identify more appropriate governance and public policy mechanisms to manage conflicts over fishery resources and to resolve them productively in the interests of both long-term sustainability and short-term economic feasibility. A quantitative analysis undertaken in selected coastal communities in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam with and without co-management indicate that co-management does lead to reduced resource conflict levels. The analysis has also shown that when resource conflicts are reduced, food security improves.

The engagement of communities in managing mangrove resources is critical. In Thailand, years of trial and error have brought few successes, which are not well documented. In this article an experience of 'Community-led Mangrove Rehabilitation' is staged under a participatory research project implemented in Hua Khao Community of Songkhla Province, Southern Thailand. The project was accomplished by means of 'tools' and 'information' initiated within the project. A sufficient set of information was obtained through PRA techniques (extensive consultations, review of secondary information, field visits, workshops, interviews and town meetings, public awareness through mangrove ecosystem education) following an iterative process during fieldwork. The lessons learnt concern mainly the community's capacity building in order to work with government and private sectors. The output with a consolidated framework is a holistic and integrated ·approach for degraded mangrove area development, which attempts to integrate socio-political and economic aspects with biophysical elements. In addition to mangrove rehabilitation, community empowerment was highlighted in order to attain capacity building, knowledge, confidence and skills for future management of mangrove resources. The resulted framework has also emphasised the importance of building the tri-sectoral (government, community and facilitator) relationship. One big difference from conventional mangrove rehabilitation is that the community-led mangrove rehabilitation project tries to bring social changes along with improvement in people's livelihood.

Bandon Bay (Surat Thani Province) is one of the most productive coastal areas in southern Thailand. The Tapi River and 18 channels are the main sources of freshwater, nutrients, organic matter and sediment to the bay and the loading of freshwater and nutrients provide essential support for the production of phytoplankton in the estuarine ecosystem. Bandon Bay is important as natural spawning, nursery and feeding grounds for shellfish such as oysters, blood cockles, green mussels, short-necked clams, mud crabs and shrimps, and the estuary also serves as an excellent area for mariculturing of shellfish. In fact, oysters and blood cockles cultured in Bandon Bay are now being exported worldwide. However, Bandon Bay is also a textbook example of overexploitation of coastal resources in the tropics including all the derived changes in the estuarial ecosystem with severe socio-economic consequences. Hence, there is an urgent need for setting up an integrated management plant for a sustainable use of shellfish resources in Bandon Bay. The present study attempts to integrate water quality simulation results, socio-economic data and information on existing shellfish resource use in the process of proposing a set of sustainable management strategies for shellfish resources in Bandon Bay. These strategies involve: (1) using water quality modeling to monitor ecological and environmental changes in shellfish culture beds and their natural habitats in the process of setting up a master plan for management of waste water discharge into Bandon Bay; (2) zoning of shellfish mariculture in the coastal area in order to solve conflicts between resource users; (3) setting up a clear system for taxation of mariculture where the revenue may be used for (4) setting up and managing mangrove strips as filters of pollution and sediment around Bandon Bay; and finally (5) it is suggested to form a committee with members representing all relevant stakeholders plus the local government in order to work on resolving the existing and potential future conflicts over resource usage in Bandon Bay. This methodology may be seen as an important contribution towards a Bandon Bay sustainable management approach, based on the principles of integrated coastal zone management because it is science-based and takes into consideration the needs and perceptions of people involved in coastal resource extraction.

Bandon Bay (Surat Thani Province) is one of the most productive coastal areas in southern Thailand. The Tapi River and 18 channels are the main sources of freshwater, nutrients, organic matter and sediment to the bay and the loading of freshwater and nutrients provide essential support for the production of phytoplankton in the estuarine ecosystem. Bandon Bay is important as natural spawning, nursery and feeding grounds for shellfish such as oysters, blood cockles, green mussels, short-necked clams, mud crabs and shrimps, and the estuary also serves as an excellent area for mariculturing of shellfish. In fact, oysters and blood cockles cultured in Bandon Bay are now being exported worldwide. However, Bandon Bay is also a textbook example of overexploitation of coastal resources in the tropics including all the derived changes in the estuarial ecosystem with severe socio-economic consequences. Hence, there is an urgent need for setting up an integrated management plant for a sustainable use of shellfish resources in Bandon Bay. The present study attempts to integrate water quality simulation results, socio-economic data and information on existing shellfish resource use in the process of proposing a set of sustainable management strategies for shellfish resources in Bandon Bay. These strategies involve: (1) using water quality modeling to monitor ecological and environmental changes in shellfish culture beds and their natural habitats in the process of setting up a master plan for management of waste water discharge into Bandon Bay; (2) zoning of shellfish mariculture in the coastal area in order to solve conflicts between resource users; (3) setting up a clear system for taxation of mariculture where the revenue may be used for (4) setting up and managing mangrove strips as filters of pollution and sediment around Bandon Bay; and finally (5) it is suggested to form a committee with members representing all relevant stakeholders plus the local government in order to work on resolving the existing and potential future conflicts over resource usage in Bandon Bay. This methodology may be seen as an important contribution towards a Bandon Bay sustainable management approach, based on the principles of integrated coastal zone management because it is science-based and takes into consideration the needs and perceptions of people involved in coastal resource extraction.

Krabi has a long stretch of coastal area with beautiful sceneries and rich in coastal resources. Among the many villages located in the coastal area, only two (Ban Ko Kwang and Ba Kantiang) were chosen as good sites for marina development. However, it was Ban Ko Kwang which best fit the criteria for the development with the help of a SWOT analysis done for the two sites. The assessment of the environmental factors related to marina requirements was done but the results were not satisfactory since most data were applicable for the whole province. Socio-economic assessment showed a satisfactory result which is good for the implementation of the marina development based on the indicators used. A more or less homogenous and educated community will make the

The objective of this study was to investigate responses of policies and plan implementation and en- forcement of laws and regulations that resulted in existence and maintenance of Laem Talumphuk mangrove forest reserves in relation with shrimp farming activities. M-S-E or Mangrove forest-Shrimp farming-Envi- ronmental planning and management concept that integrated these seemingly conflicting components, was expected to provide a compromised solution for desirable institutional settings for an effective management of the common property resources such as mangrove forest. Goal-Oriented Project Planning (GOPP) tech- nique was adapted for its use in data collection and analysis. The result of this research indicated that man- grove forest ownership and boundary were not clearly defined, which consequently changed the ownership pattern to become more privately owned. This had resulted in difficulties for the enforcement of laws and the implementation of the policies and plans of all concerned institutions. The ownership issue is crucial as it forms a basis for common property resource management plans that satisfy the needs of all stakeholders and the environment.