Dynamite fishing in Dive sites in SE Asia!

[nuswhl]

It's Chinese New Year, I'm supposed to be happy. But I just found out that some of the best dive sites in South East Asia are still subjected to dynamite fishing!
Seems like Hin Daeng has been dynamited just several years ago by a fishing boat. And someone on this board mentioned he heard explosion from dynamite fishing boat in the Similan islands very recently! (I know Koh Bon has a lot of old dynamite fishing scars)
Burma is dubbed "land of dynamite fishing" in one of the articles I found online, which said that the Burma Banks are seriously damaged by dynamite fishing. (links pasted below).
It seems to me that Burmese fishermen finally bombed their own existence into jeopardy and now they are venturing into the Similans to catch a few fish!
In addition to destroying reef, another danger of dynamite fishing is that divers' eardrums will be easily ruptured by dynamite fishing(happened before).

Would someone with enough qualifications put in some comments on these situations?
And what can we do and should we do?

Links:
http://www.tntdiventures.com/burma.html
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/05/30/MN232485.DTL
http://www.divegallery.com/dynamite.htm
http://www.coralreefs.net/10richesthammeredbyhumans.htm

 

[Bowmouth]

Dear nuswhl,

There hasn't been any dynamite fishing for many years in the Similan and Surin Marine National Park and neither at Ko Bon, Ko Tachai or Richelieu Rock. Divers visiting the Surin Marine National Park and/or Richelieu Rock may hear blasts from sites being dynamited in the Mergui Archipelago in Myanmar. Dynamiting is done mainly by illegal Thai owned fishing vessels operating in the Mergui Archipelago, not the Burma Banks. The Burma Banks are currently being fished by hookah-divers for sea-urchins but not being bombed anymore. The shark population at the Banks has dwindled seriously (mainly due to longline fishermen from Sumatra-Indonesia) but tawny nurse sharks, the occaisional white tip reef shark and a couple of juvenile grey reef sharks and juvenile silvertip sharks may be seen by divers at some of the Banks. It sometimes helps greatly (to see a couple of sharks) if one brings fresh bonitos and chums a bit before one dives the Banks.
Hin Daeng did have a boat illegally dynamiting about a good two years ago but no visible damage on the reef. There hasn't been any bombing going on ever since.
Despite the dynamite fihing in Myanmar there's still a tremendous amount of interesting creatures to be found on the reefs. The Mergui Archipelago is a HUGE area and basically not patrolled by local authorities hence illegal fishing practices can still go on. Reefs in Myanmar deperately need international help otherwise this fantastic diving area may be blasted away in the next few years.....

 

[Steve Egner]

nuswhl said,

It's Chinese New Year, I'm supposed to be happy. But I just found out that some of the best dive sites in South East Asia are still subjected to dynamite fishing!
Seems like Hin Daeng has been dynamited just several years ago by a fishing boat. And someone on this board mentioned he heard explosion from dynamite fishing boat in the Similan islands very recently! (I know Koh Bon has a lot of old dynamite fishing scars)
Burma is dubbed "land of dynamite fishing" in one of the articles I found online, which said that the Burma Banks are seriously damaged by dynamite fishing. (links pasted below).
It seems to me that Burmese fishermen finally bombed their own existence into jeopardy and now they are venturing into the Similans to catch a few fish!
In addition to destroying reef, another danger of dynamite fishing is that divers' eardrums will be easily ruptured by dynamite fishing(happened before).

"Are you gonna talk, or are you gonna fish?"

Sorry, old joke.

Steve

 

[whitehead]

I definitely would not count myself as "qualified" but I am not sure if anything can be done at the moment at a grass roots level. The Burmese fisherman are simply so poor and the government so fed up of "international opinions" that no answer seems likely soon.

Some, Ethan Daniels springs to mind immediately, are helping to promote the beauty and diversity of the area as one of the lasting paradises. Paradoxically its their isolation from "internationalism" that has kept the area "underexploited" thus far.

The area has a "reputation" (notice my extensive use of quotations throughout this) as a pelagic area amongst divers. This is sadly no more in terms of the regular dive sites although stopping by local fisherman and viewing their catch makes one wonder if this is just at the regular dive sites rather than area wide. For example I have never seen a hammerhead in Thailand or Burma but most Burmese (or is that Myanmarian) fishing boats seem to have smaller specimens on board.

Sadly, as you note, the Burma Banks (or the ones that are commonly dived) are not the draw they once were.

Without doubt the regular viewing of large pelagics is not the draw of Mergui anymore (sadly) but the real - current - draw is its smaller species. The macro life is on a par with Indonesia IMHO. The not so often dived areas, especially the northern sectors have spectacular sights such as the congregration of thousands of cow nosed rays.

Whilst dynamite fishing is a leach on the leg of sustainability and conservationism I would counter the view that Mergui is all dynamited out. It MOST definitely is not and has some incredible fauna and flora rarely equalled elsewhere.

I welcome opinions from the Phuket locals on your comment about the Burmese venturing to the Similans. Whilst I have no personal experience, the Thai nation is not so forgiving when dealing with neighbouring countries breaking their laws.

If anything can be done, it is through awareness and education. We as divers should support such programmes where ever and when ever possible. Your post is a good example of raising awareness.

We need to be careful though that our actions are well thought and tangible and not seen as just another example of we who have squandered our natural resources being holier than though with those who cannot afford to live. After all it is not the Burmese who have suddenly found a taste for eating a lot more shark fin and fish, they have only found out who to "sell" it to.

 

[MoonWrasse]

The legecy of Nobel - prizes for notable accomplshements along with the tool of choice to destroy the remaining corals in the world.

 

[nuswhl]

Dear nuswhl,

There hasn't been any dynamite fishing for many years in the Similan and Surin Marine National Park and neither at Ko Bon, Ko Tachai or Richelieu Rock. Divers visiting the Surin Marine National Park and/or Richelieu Rock may hear blasts from sites being dynamited in the Mergui Archipelago in Myanmar. Dynamiting is done mainly by illegal Thai owned fishing vessels operating in the Mergui Archipelago, not the Burma Banks. The Burma Banks are currently being fished by hookah-divers for sea-urchins but not being bombed anymore. The shark population at the Banks has dwindled seriously (mainly due to longline fishermen from Sumatra-Indonesia) but tawny nurse sharks, the occaisional white tip reef shark and a couple of juvenile grey reef sharks and juvenile silvertip sharks may be seen by divers at some of the Banks. It sometimes helps greatly (to see a couple of sharks) if one brings fresh bonitos and chums a bit before one dives the Banks.
Hin Daeng did have a boat illegally dynamiting about a good two years ago but no visible damage on the reef. There hasn't been any bombing going on ever since.
Despite the dynamite fihing in Myanmar there's still a tremendous amount of interesting creatures to be found on the reefs. The Mergui Archipelago is a HUGE area and basically not patrolled by local authorities hence illegal fishing practices can still go on. Reefs in Myanmar deperately need international help otherwise this fantastic diving area may be blasted away in the next few years.....

Thank you! It's really a relief to hear that there's no on-going dynamite fishing in the Similan Islands!
But then again it's so sad to hear that the reefs in Myanmar are still being bombed.

 

[nuswhl]

The legecy of Nobel - prizes for notable accomplshements along with the tool of choice to destroy the remaining corals in the world.

Yes, that's really sad.
Having seen how beatuiful the reefs are and knowing how much money the reefs can earn via eco-tourism, it simply saddens me that humans are willing to kill a whole reef just to get a few fish.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not against fishing. I'm only saying that fishing should be carried out in a responsible and sustainable way. Dynamite fishing is utterly irresponsible and totally NOT sustainable.

 

[nuswhl]

I definitely would not count myself as "qualified" but I am not sure if anything can be done at the moment at a grass roots level. The Burmese fisherman are simply so poor and the government so fed up of "international opinions" that no answer seems likely soon.

Some, Ethan Daniels springs to mind immediately, are helping to promote the beauty and diversity of the area as one of the lasting paradises. Paradoxically its their isolation from "internationalism" that has kept the area "underexploited" thus far.

The area has a "reputation" (notice my extensive use of quotations throughout this) as a pelagic area amongst divers. This is sadly no more in terms of the regular dive sites although stopping by local fisherman and viewing their catch makes one wonder if this is just at the regular dive sites rather than area wide. For example I have never seen a hammerhead in Thailand or Burma but most Burmese (or is that Myanmarian) fishing boats seem to have smaller specimens on board.

Sadly, as you note, the Burma Banks (or the ones that are commonly dived) are not the draw they once were.

Without doubt the regular viewing of large pelagics is not the draw of Mergui anymore (sadly) but the real - current - draw is its smaller species. The macro life is on a par with Indonesia IMHO. The not so often dived areas, especially the northern sectors have spectacular sights such as the congregration of thousands of cow nosed rays.

Whilst dynamite fishing is a leach on the leg of sustainability and conservationism I would counter the view that Mergui is all dynamited out. It MOST definitely is not and has some incredible fauna and flora rarely equalled elsewhere.

I welcome opinions from the Phuket locals on your comment about the Burmese venturing to the Similans. Whilst I have no personal experience, the Thai nation is not so forgiving when dealing with neighbouring countries breaking their laws.

If anything can be done, it is through awareness and education. We as divers should support such programmes where ever and when ever possible. Your post is a good example of raising awareness.

We need to be careful though that our actions are well thought and tangible and not seen as just another example of we who have squandered our natural resources being holier than though with those who cannot afford to live. After all it is not the Burmese who have suddenly found a taste for eating a lot more shark fin and fish, they have only found out who to "sell" it to.

Seems like the situation in Burma Banks is indeed not good.
It is true that the restaurants around south east Asia play a part in overfishing. But why dynamite fishing? Why would the fishermen use dynamite fishing? Don't they know that dynamite fishing will put their own future in jeopardy? It'll be really sad if the fishermen are not aware of the extent of damage caused by dynamite fishing. Nobody will enjoy the result of dynamite: fishermen no where to fish, divers no where to dive, fish price increase in restaurants...

 

[Tommer]

those loud boom underwater sound wave sure travel quiet far from Burma all the way to Thailand, was there a few months ago somewhere under the Similian islands, we all heard this loud boom sound, at first I thought someone's BC or tank exploded including my, it was loud and very unpleasant, after we got up on the boat dive master explained us those are the uw explosive that fishermen used in Burma. awful experience, awful....

 

[hapadiver]

There's still a lot of dynamite fishing going on in eastern Indonesia. I've personally heard the heart-stopping explosions while underwater near Pulau Moyo off of Sumbawa, eastern Flores, and the Togean Islands in Sulawesi. Some of these areas have been declared national parks, however the rangers are so underfunded that they can hardly make a real difference.

Education, of course, is the most promising option. There was an Australian-led campaign done in Flores a few years back, but many of the signs posted were in English--not Bahasa Indonesia. Furthermore, they illustrated that dynamite fishing was bad and scuba diving and snorkeling were good. However, this didn't do much to convince locals that they themselves were better off with the reefs alive. The pictures only seemed to prove the perks for farang tourists.

What needs to be communicated is how destroying reefs will eventually effect the local population. That though dynamite fishing is a speedy and non-labor-intensive way of getting a large catch, it will eventually mean that there are no catches, and that, although the reefs seem abundant, there will, eventually be none left.

What complicates this matter is that local fisherman now serve a global market and not just a local one. For instance, in the bay of Sulawesi, large refrigeration ships cruise the seas for months and months at a time, taking tons and tons of fish from small villages. Then they head back to Korea or China with a full cargo to sell.

In order for fishermen to catch enough for their own villages and to sell to these ships, they often resort to dynamite fishing or even poisoning the reefs with cyanide. Thus reefs get destroyed, and way too many fish get taken than these environments can sustain. Often a wall in this very isolated region will be almost entirely bereft of adult fish because of this over-harvesting. And fish that have no appeal to the market get killed along with those in demand, only to be thrown back into the water dead.

I'd be happy to donate to any organization that is addressing such issues in SE Asia. Let me know if you find a good one. Sorry about your Chinese New Year sadness, and I hope we can all find a way to help.