A local fishing community from a small island in the Chanthaburi province of Thailand has vowed to keep using pong-pang fishing nets despite them being outlawed.
The Department of Fisheries is cracking down on the use of the pong-pang, which is a type of bag net tied to two columns and plunged down into the sea or riverbed.
Officials say the dense nets cause devastation because they ensnare small marine animals before they can reach reproductive age.
But Chanthaburi locals argue their livelihoods will be destroyed if their pong-pangs are removed. The traditional fishing tool has been banned under a ministerial since 1978, but efforts to enforce this have always faced strong resistance. Since the military coup in May this year, the department is beginning a fresh crackdown.
Pairin Oranpaiboon, village chief of Ban Long Mai in Tambon Bangchan, Klong district, said locals are living in fear.
“They don’t know when officials will come to destroy the pong-pangs, which feed more than 1,300 families living in the landless community,” he said.
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