Fishing in Hot Water

Welcome once again my fellow fish fondlers.

Maybe it’s just me, but I swear towards the end of the month I heard more ambulance sirens than on the supposed “week of death” and judging by the news “death week” sounds like a sound bite for:- Please behave this week as it’s a “Farrang” holiday period. T.I.T.

As usual, as the tourist season comes to its height, the water heats up and the fishing deteriorates as the fish go deeper although a few Dorado have been caught which is unusual, but nothing surprises me anymore as global warming continues to disrupt our fishing calendar. That said, we have been the Sailfish capital of the world for quite a while now for what looks like the same reason, as different species adapt to the changing environment, which we humans continue to refuse to acknowledge. So, once again, please don’t ask me what you can expect at any specific time of year.

Locally, I see the lake “fresh water” boys have been stocking up and I could not believe my eyes when I saw how big the Arapaima at Chalong Fishing Park have grown, since their introduction.

From all reports the boats have been relatively busy but as the European Market declines we seem to be left with “tourist” type Russians, who DEMAND a big fish, not forgetting the Chinese who have to be told you can’t breathe underwater, a sad reflection on their education. It also reflects on T.A.T.s (Thailand’s Tourism Authority) policy of “cheap” tourism as they continue to target quantity rather than quality, and then wonder where their recent problems arise from.

This week’s joke :- you can now be fined 3,000 USD – 100,000 Baht for smoking on the beach, as cigarette butts pollute the ocean (true) yet, over many years now no one seems to bother about the clongs spewing raw sewage and lots of other crap, straight into the sea, as seen “annually” in Patong Bay when the green slime is not flushed away as the seasonal tides change. Now that’s a load of sh1t. 555.

I warned everybody about an impending marine disaster prior to the Phoenix tragedy, now, how about the health hazard issues in our most popular tourist destination. I often wonder – can anything save the tourism industry from Thai logic?