- Title: Thai scuba divers become citizen scientists amid rising plastic pollution
- Date: 19th April 2024
- Summary: PHUKET, THAILAND (RECENT - APRIL 5, 2024) (REUTERS) (MUTE) DRONE SHOT OF PHUKET TOWN PHUKET, THAILAND (RECENT - APRIL 4, 2024) (REUTERS) SLOW MOTION SHOT OF DISCARDED FISHING GEAR (GHOST GEAR) ON TABLE CORAL VARIOUS OF SLOW MOTION SHOTS OF DISCARDED FISHING GEAR ENTANGLED ON CORAL SLOW MOTION SHOT OF DISCARDED FISHING CAGE TRAPPING STAR PUFFER FISH POINT OF VIEW SHOT OF SCUBA DIVER CUTTING DISCARDED FISHING GEAR FROM CORAL POINT OF VIEW SHOT OF DIVER PUTTING TRASH INSIDE NETS SLOW MOTION SHOT OF DIVERS REMOVING GHOST GEAR FROM CORAL SLOW MOTION SHOT OF DIVER CUTTING GHOST GEAR SLOW MOTION SHOT OF DIVER PUTTING GHOST GEAR IN NET (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) SENIOR CAMPAIGNER AND SOUTHEAST ASIAN PLASTIC PROJECT MANAGER AT ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE FOUNDATION, SALISA TRAIPIPITSIRIWAT, SAYING: “(In Thailand,) we constantly collect discarded fishing gear (ghost gear). We have a strong scuba diving community. We have many government sectors working on this cleanup dive. However, even though there is a collection of waste, there is no uniform data collection. Some people collect waste and take it to the landfill. Some people collect and weigh it, or count pieces, but there is still no standard for collecting data from this waste." VARIOUS OF SLOW MOTION SHOTS OF DIVER MEASURING DISCARDED FISHING ROPE DIVER TAKING NOTES UNDERWATER (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) MARINE SCIENTIST FROM AOW THAI MARINE ECOLOGY CENTER (ATMEC), NATCHANON KIATKAJORNPHAN, SAYING: “(Once we spot ghost gear,) firstly, we will record where we found it, the date, the depth in metres, what type of fishing gear, and what type of surface the gear is on, such as covering a coral reef, rock, or sand." PHUKET, THAILAND (RECENT - APRIL 3, 2024) (REUTERS) SEA TURTLE MODEL ENTANGLED IN FISHING GEAR / SCUBA DIVING INSTRUCTOR PROVIDING MARINE SCIENCE INITIATIVE (MARSCI) TRAINING TO CERTIFIED SCUBA DIVERS SCUBA DIVER MEASURING LENGTH OF FISHING GEAR DURING MARSCI TRAINING VARIOUS OF 9-YEAR-OLD SCUBA DIVER, WOLAWALAN THIRAWITTAYANON, TAKING NOTES DURING TRAINING (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) 9-YEAR-OLD SCUBA DIVER, WOLAWALAN THIRAWITTAYANON, SAYING: "If we collected waste (underwater), we would be able to separate and identify what type of waste it is.” PHUKET, THAILAND (RECENT - APRIL 4, 2024) (REUTERS) MARSCI TRAINING SCUBA DIVERS SORTING COLLECTED, DISCARDED FISHING GEAR DIVER SORTING FISHING GEAR DIVERS DISASSEMBLING DISCARDED FISHING CAGE DIVER CUTTING ROPE FROM FISHING CAGE DIVER WEIGHING SORTED FISHING GEAR WEIGHT SHOWING 16 KG (35 LBS) (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) SENIOR CAMPAIGNER AND SOUTHEAST ASIAN PLASTIC PROJECT MANAGER AT ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE FOUNDATION, SALISA TRAIPIPITSIRIWAT, SAYING: “Once we have this data (collected from divers), various organisations can take the raw data to see if we should first address the (plastic pollution) whether through policy, legislation, or management.” PHUKET, THAILAND (RECENT - APRIL 3, 2024) (REUTERS) MARINE VETERINARIANS MEASURING SIZE OF DEAD GREEN SEA TURTLE MARINE VETERINARIAN CONDUCTING NECROPSY ON DEAD GREEN SEA TURTLE MARINE VETERINARIANS INSPECTING TURTLE’S DIGESTIVE SYSTEM / (UPSOUND) (Thai): “This is garbage and rope that the sea turtle ate.” (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) FISHERY OFFICER AT DEPARTMENT OF MARINE AND COASTAL RESOURCES, THAYANEE HUNKAO, SAYING: “We conducted a necropsy on a stranded dead green sea turtle, we found things like food, bits of leaves and twig. We also found a small amount of trash such as ropes and plastic.” PHUKET, THAILAND (RECENT - APRIL 5, 2024) (REUTERS) (MUTE) DRONE SHOT OF EXTERIOR OF PHUKET’S SIREETARN MARINE ENDANGERED ANIMALS RESCUE CENTER DRONE SHOT OF REHABILITATION FACILITY IN RESCUE CENTER DRONE SHOT OF INJURED SEA TURTLES PHUKET, THAILAND (RECENT - APRIL 5, 2024) (REUTERS) SLOW MOTION SHOT OF INJURED SEA TURTLE WHICH LOST ITS FIN DUE TO PLASTIC ENTANGLEMENT SLOW MOTION SHOT OF FISHING NET TRACE ON SEA TURTLE’S SHELL SLOW MOTION SHOT OF SEA TURTLE (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) HEAD OF PHUKET’S SIREETARN MARINE ENDANGERED ANIMALS RESCUE CENTER, PATCHARAPORN KAEWMONG, SAYING: “We see the impact of marine debris (on marine endangered animals,) which are increasingly affected either by ingestion of waste or entanglement. (Since 2023,) when we started collecting data, an average of 30-40% were affected. As of today, plastic waste is one of the main causes of endangered marine animals washing ashore, which we are seeing more and more often.” PHUKET, THAILAND (RECENT - APRIL 4, 2024) (REUTERS) CHILDREN WALKING ON BEACH WITH TRASH DISCARDED PLASTIC BOTTLE ON BEACH WAVES CRASHING / AIRCRAFT TAKING OFF PHUKET, THAILAND (RECENT - APRIL 5, 2024) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) HEAD OF PHUKET’S SIREETARN MARINE ENDANGERED ANIMALS RESCUE CENTER, PATCHARAPORN KAEWMONG, SAYING: “Waste management is a very big problem, which is at a national or even global level. It requires many sectors to take care of. EJF is one of the organisations that help by creating a mechanism (through MARsCI). This helps to reduce the problems that exist in nature, or contamination in nature, in a systematic way." PHUKET, THAILAND (RECENT - APRIL 4, 2024) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SLOW MOTION SHOT OF CORAL REEF AND SCHOOL OF FISH
- Embargoed: 3rd May 2024 01:58
- Keywords: ALDFG Environmental Justice Foundation Phuket Thailand animals conservation earth day environment ghost gear ghost net marine debris plastic pollution sea turtles
- Location: PHUKET, THAILAND
- City: PHUKET, THAILAND
- Country: Thailand
- Topics: Asia / Pacific,Pollution,Environment,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001248803042024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: VIDEO SPEED FOR SHOTS 2-4, 7-9, 32-34 AND 40 HAVE BEEN ALTERED
Beneath the pristine waters off Thailand’s Phuket island, an environmental threat looms large as divers work to disentangle abandoned fishing gear from coral which have trapped unsuspecting fish inside.
Abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear – also known as ghost gear – are the deadliest form of marine plastic litter. This marine waste comprises ropes, nets, lines, traps and other fishing equipment often made up of durable plastics.
An estimated 1 million tons of ghost gear are lost in the ocean each year, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Over time, they will break down into microplastics, contributing to marine plastic pollution, impacting marine creatures and humans through seafood ingestion.
While there are several scuba diving groups working to remove ghost gear from reefs through clean-up missions, there is no system put in place to track the collection of the plastic litter, according to Salisa Traipipitsiriwat, Senior Campaigner and Southeast Asian Plastic Manager from the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF).
“Some people collect waste and take it to the landfill. Some people collect and weigh it, or count pieces, but there is still no standard for collecting data from this waste," she said.
The non-governmental organisation is helping to coordinate lessons that teach recreational divers – a fast-growing scuba hobby group which has over 80,000 certified divers – how to use scientific tools to help marine scientists.
Off the shore of Phuket on an April morning, nine year-old Wolawalan Thirawittayanon stood out from a group of twenty amateur divers as she penned down notes intently on her clipboard.
“If we collected waste (underwater), we would be able to separate and identify what type of waste it is,” said Wolawalan, a certified scuba diver hoping to make a positive impact on marine life as she attended the two-day citizen scientist training run by Aow Thai Marine Ecology Center (ATMEC).
The collected data -- which is shared with other environmental organisations -- is used to determine the extent of the ghost gear at a particular location and its environmental impact on the area, and could prove crucial in implementing policy and legislation in the future.
Since kicking off its Marine Science Citizen Initiative (MARsCI) programme in 2020, ATMEC has trained over 100 divers to become citizen scientists and have collected enough data to publish an academic paper about the threat of ghost gear in Thai waters.
Apart from the citizen science project, the EJF has also engaged the help of around 500 local fishers to collect discarded fishing nets. Some 130 tons of used fishing gears have been collected by the EJF from local fishing communities along the Thai coastal area and recycled into new products. The collected trash is also sorted out before being sent to recycling facilities or landfills.
As of 2023, the percentage of endangered marine animals affected by plastic pollution in the Thai Upper Andaman Sea rose by roughly 30-40%, up from 20% in 2021, according to the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources.
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