Marine dept estimates 10 days to clear floating trash

PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN: Environment officials, local people and the Royal Thai Navy have joined forces to clean up a large garbage “island” found in the Gulf of Thailand near Chumphon and Prachuap Khiri Khan provinces yesterday.

However, it is estimated that it will take about 10 days to complete the garbage collection, according to Sopon Thongdee, deputy director-general of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources.

On Thursday evening, an aerial survey located the 800 metre by one kilometre floating mass about eight kilometres east of Koh Talu, a popular shallow water dive site in the province.

But yesterday, the garbage was found about 12 kilometres away from Prachuap Khiri Khan’s Bang Saphan district.

Meanwhile, the tide and the wind had spread the island of garbage to cover an area of several square kilometres.

The garbage is an urgent issue as most of it is plastic waste.

Considering its similar appearance to jellyfish, some animals might eat the plastic and die.

Also, the garbage can potentially be deadly to coral if it sinks.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Surasak Karnjanarat said that in the short term, crane-equipped boats with big nets, assisted by divers, would scoop up the rubbish for proper disposal.

In the long term, all communities must reduce the amount of garbage they produce by 5% by the end of 2017, according to the national master plan on waste management for 2016-2021, he said.

In the future, distributing free plastic bags in coastal provinces will be prohibited. Consumers must pay for the bags if they want to use them, he said.

A pilot project will take place in Koh Khai Island in Chumphon, where the use of plastic containers will be prohibited, he said.

Mr Sopon said the huge garbage island might be composed of debris from water draining off into the sea after the recent floods, especially from Prachuap Khiri Khan and Chumphon provinces, he said. It is the biggest floating garbage patch ever seen in Thai waters, he said.

Mr Sopon estimated its mass at 100 tonnes.

Thon Thamrongnawasawat, a marine scientist from Kasetsart University, said state agencies are now alerted to the problem of sea garbage after he recently posted a photo of a 10 kilometre-long patch of waste found in the Gulf of Thailand, which he received from a fisherman.

The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) and the Marine Science Association of Thailand had a short discussion and came up with urgent action to deal with the case.

Mr Thon, who is also a member of the national marine committee, explained Thursday’s aerial survey done by a helicopter was made to find spots of sea garbage; meanwhile, GISTDA will present a satellite image of the waste and read the seawater currents to predict the direction of its movement.

Mr Thon said that around 100 sea turtles and 10 whales die each year in Thailand due to rubbish in the sea.