DAM-L LS: Dam constrution and rapid blasting along Mekong River Wash (fwd)

["D. Murray" <dianne@sandelman.ottawa.on.ca>]

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Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2002 09:46:12 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200204251646.g3PGkCF06333@DaVinci.NetVista.net>
Subject: LS: Dam constrution and rapid blasting along Mekong River Wash 

Away Tradition, Jobs
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Thailand: Changes along Mekong River Wash Away Tradition, Jobs

By Marwaan Macan-Markar/Chiang Khong, Thailand

April 25, 2002 - At this time of the year, the stretch of the Mekong River
that flows past this rural township in northern Thailand should be alive
with fishermen preparing to net the highly-prized Mekong giant catfish.

But the river is empty of such life. The rituals normally performed by the
fisherman on the river's bank before noon-including prayers and chicken
offerings from their boats-are nowhere in sight.

This emptiness saddens Boonrien Jinaraj, because it affirms that a tradition
closely associated with his riverbank community of some 4,900 people is
drifting into history-and highlights the risk that fishermen may someday
have to switch jobs.

''A way of life, a way of earning money by catching the giant catfish is
dying,'' says 54-year-old Boonrien, whose deeply tanned and wrinkled face is
evidence of hours spent under the sun in search of the world's largest
scale-less freshwater fish.

''For years we depended on the river to live, but I fear we will have to
look elsewhere for work,'' he adds, reflecting the views of many fishermen
in this quiet community dotted with just a few wooden houses.

Boonrien was attracted to this vocation as a 10-year-old, when he would
accompany his grandfather to the Mekong River and watch fishermen catching
the giant catfish-just one example of how fish is closely tied to food
security in the region.

The dependency is even greater in the Mekong River's lower basin. Its
fisheries yield of 1.75 million tons represents "2% of the total world catch
and 20% of all fish caught from inland waters of the world'', according to a
document from the Phnom-Penh based Mekong River Commission, an
inter-governmental body comprising the lower basin countries of Thailand,
Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Last year, the fishermen of Chiang Khong failed to net a single giant
catfish, whose full size can measure two-to-three meters long, and weigh
more than 200 kg.

These giant fish are generally caught from April to May when they swim
upstream to spawn. The best year to date was 1993, when the river yielded 69
giant catfish or 'plaa beuk' as they are known in Thai. During a typical
season, anywhere from 20 to 40 giant catfish are caught, with each being
sold in Bangkok in upwards of 85,000 baht (US$ 2,000).

Community leaders here agree on where the blame lies for the changes
sweeping through their lives-China's construction of the Man Wan Dam in
1995, where the 4,200 km Mekong river flows through its south-western
province of Yunnan from Tibet before it goes through Burma, Thailand, Laos,
Cambodia, Vietnam.

''The dam has changed the natural flow of the waters and affected the
river's currents,'' asserts Niwat Roykaew, 43, a part-time teacher and local
activist. ''This year has been one of the worst, with water levels
fluctuating rapidly during the day.''

On some days, the water level has been high in the morning, low at noon and
high by evening. ''At times we have seen differences of one-meter shifts in
a day,'' he says.

Such fluctuations undermine the chances of netting the giant catfish, the
fishermen explain, since the river's ideal depth should be between two or
three meters for a successful catch, the customary depth along this part of
the Mekong in April and May.

The changes may also disrupt the spawning behavior of the catfish, causing
worries about the river life itself, not to mention other impacts in
countries further downstream from China's dams.

Changing river flows are also affecting those here who thrive on the river's
edible weeds for a living, earning close to 500 baht (US$ 11) a day.

Dam construction by countries along the Mekong and its tributaries have been
done to harness the waters of the river for hydroelectric power, notably by
Thailand, Laos and China, which is trying to work out a balancing act
between industrialization and reducing the use of coal-fired power.

''Those who approve such development plans or build dams under the guise of
development only see the river as a resource to be exploited,'' says
Chainarong Sretthachau, director of the Thai wing of the South-east Asia
Rivers Network (SEARIN). ''They fail to see the people who depend on the
river for a living.''

''The dam in Yunnan and the dams in Thailand have disrupted the harmonious
relationship between the people living by the Mekong and the river,'' he
asserts. ''This is a typical top-down approach to development.''

He says Thailand's own Pak Mun Dam, built on the Mun River, which is a
tributary of the Mekong in Ubon Ratchathani Province, shows the sometimes
unplanned effects of dams.

People whose livelihoods were disrupted by Pak Mun got the government to
open the dam's sluice gates for a year until mid-2002, allowing river life
to come back. In January 2002, fishermen caught one rare giant catfish,
since they could again go upstream to spawn.

But dams are just one of the changes affecting the Mekong, as economic
integration and cooperation grow in the region.

In June last year, China, Burma and Thailand agreed on a navigation
agreement to allow greater use of the river for bigger vessels for
commerce-but this also means the blasting of reefs and construction of new
ports along the way.

While governments look forward to more cross-border commerce, people in this
northern Thai town, home to one of the 11 reefs proposed to be blasted, say
the destruction of the reefs would also mean wrecking the rich river
habitats that produce fish and others for their livelihoods. The dynamite
blasting of river reefs would enable ships to travel smoothly over a 900-km
journey from Simao, a port in Yunnan, to Luang Prabang in northern Laos.

''Development in this region is being pursued in the name of reducing
poverty and not creating wealth. But this case shows otherwise,'' says
Shalmali Guttal of Focus on the Global South, a Bangkok-based research body.
''It says that 'development' is designed to serve particular sets of
interests. The large projects are being approved with little input from the
local communities.''

Niwat, the activist, confirms this: ''The rapids are being blasted with no
notice to us, nor were we asked how we feel about it. Once we lose the river
reefs, fishing will become harder here."

Already, some residents have been forced to look for jobs in Bangkok and
smaller cities. Some young men have given up their nets and boats to work as
laborers on construction sites. ''Will the river be empty next year also?''
Boonrien wonders.

This article was reprinted with the permission of Inter Press Service (IPS).

(Source: Irrawaddy Online.)



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