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The
only one Left; Chai
Supan, a Chiang Saen fisher, commented that, There used to be 7-8 fishers
in his group who had been fishing around the beaches of Chiang Saen, but
since the big commercial ships(around 80-100DWT) have been able to navigate
from China through to Chiang Saen, the fishers boats was threatened by
big waves from the ships, so they have to involuntarily stop fishing..
Up until now, there is only Chai who still riskily fishs in the areas. |
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Fishers; Rapids
and reefs in the Mekong are fish's food resources and common fishing
grounds for villagers. Oil, a Chiang Kong fisher who had
learned how to fish and has been fishing in the Mekong since he
was a kid is concerning that, If the rapids reefs and shoals are
blasted and the river converted into a commercial navigation channel
for big vessels, it will be the end of local fishing communities
since small-boat villagers use the river for fishing and local transportation.
Small boats will not resist the big waves caused by big vessels
cruising in the river all year round. And these pictures
will become only a legend of Mekong fishers.
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The
river of Lives; Mekong
is the river of lives as people along the river have been using it for
consumption especially as water supply for generations ( as long as the
river and human exist). As
can be seen in the pictures; monks, novices, children and people would
come to bath, do washing and take some water for water supply, along the
riverside in the evening. This livelihood will be gone with the big ships
cruising years round that will impact on water pollution and big waves
caused by big vessel navigation.
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Riverbank
vegetable garden; is very important for villagers along the river especially those living
by the river as the riverside is a common area --particularly customary
lands, fertiled and nurished with natural fertilizer from the Mekong sediment. A family will use around 1-2 Rai of land, by customary land rights, to do vegetable and herb farming
either for family consumption or for sale in local markets.
The effects on riverside vegetation will mostly come from following up
activities especially local development projects. As experienced
by Kraisorn --a villager from Sob Som-Chiang khong, who use a Rai of riverside
to do river bank garden-- this small area is very significant for
their food security and it can even yield 200-300 Baht per day.
But by the end of this year, they will have to stop farming as were told
by the government that the area will be converted to an embankment.
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