Restoring the 'Mud' Back into a 'Seagrass' Grove

Community enterprise for raising fish in cages at Ban Phru Jut, Bo Hin Subdistrict, Sikao District, Trang Province

How to Restore 'Mud' Back to a 'Seagrass' Grove

When it comes to the ideal ecosystem, most city dwellers envision a mountain forest. However, many other ecosystems in Thailand have decayed and disappeared, waiting for someone to recognize their value and restore them. One of them is 'Seagrass resources', which were once abundant in our home’s southern region.

Fortunately, Brother Banjong Narupornmethee, president of the Cage Fish Farming Community Enterprise, Ban Phru Jut, Bo Hin Subdistrict, Sikao District, Trang Province, initiated a 'Seagrass Ecosystem Conservation Project'. Those who fought for many years to find a way to restore the health of the Trang coastline by struggling with grass restoration before discovering a method that works in all sectors and is the quickest. That is, raising seagrass seedlings and replanting them on the coast. Therefore, it became a model for turning mud into seagrass that proved to be extremely successful (The seagrass source at Ban Phru Jut has returned to its health for tens of thousands of rai!) until the knowledge had to be shared for other communities to use.

Seeing P’Banjong’s good intentions, the Suthirat Foundation has volunteered to go down and assist with physical effort, mental energy, and funds, as well as take lessons on how to restore seagrass along the bay to share with one another in an easy-to-understand manner. Let’s take a look at what P’Banjong, the community, and everyone else had to go through to restore the seagrass ecosystem and return small fish to a full food source. The villagers resumed their normal lives after catching fish for a living, and rare marine animals such as dugongs were able to thrive once more. Confirming that all of this is not a dream, we can truly 'help each other'.

1. Understand that 'Seagrass Resources' = 'Community Rice Pots' that are shrinking

The 2004 tsunami was the catalyst for large-scale changes in coastal areas. As sediment accumulates and seagrass beds shrink, young marine animals like fish, shrimp, and crabs lose their food source and habitat. What happened next was that not only nature perished, but so did the community’s fishermen, who used to make a living by taking small aquatic animal babies from natural nurseries, raising them to adulthood, and then selling them. They are no longer capable of earning a sustainable living.

The decline in the community’s income and job security has fueled P’Banjong, the president of the community enterprise’s conservation spirit. The more we see the once-perfect seagrass beds transformed into mire with no signs of life, the more motivated we are to restore the community’s rice pots.

2. Experiment until you find a way to restore grass that is 'Sustainable' for all parties

Restoring seagrass may not appear to be a difficult task, but conservationists must manage the satisfaction of all involved parties and stakeholders until the most sustainable solution is found.

When we first started the project, P’Banjong tried a variety of methods, but they still didn’t work. The first method involves placing FADs or FADs rope in place of sea grass to provide a habitat for animals. It appears that attempting to do so in the FADs area obstructs fishing and has an impact on the use of fishing equipment. For example, people who catch fish with nets catch fish, but if they don't set up their nets properly, they get stuck. When the fishermen are unable to fish, they cut their lines and discard them, causing community conflict. Furthermore, the highest and lowest sea levels on the Andaman coast have turned Sang into a garbage dump. When he realized that this method was inappropriate, he gave up.

The second method, P’Banjong, attempted to change to a method of laying artificial corals (FADs), which was more acceptable to the villagers, but required a significant amount of capital, and corals made of concrete blocks required a shoreline at least 10 meters deep from the sea. If the agency that came to lay the reef fails to meet the requirements, troops will be unable to land by boat. The coast here is deemed insufficiently deep, so this idea will be abandoned.
The third method is to transfer grass from another location to plant. It’s probably the most correct method. P’Banjong then attempted to start transplanting plants.

The survival rate of seagrass is high, but the method of obtaining the grass from the original community where the seagrass thrives causes conflict. The community believes that transplanting may make the breeding grounds less fertile than before. When the community that owns the plant does not see it this way, it will collapse again.

3. Growing your own seedlings from seagrass seeds is the final answer!

The method that becomes the final answer is to 'plant seeds' himself. However, P'Banjong claims that growing plants with a high survival rate is difficult because you must learn how to balance the sea grass before it develops into really strong seedlings. He must seek advice from Rajamangala University of Technology Srivijaya in Songkhla Province. He learned how to propagate by separating clumps before moving on to planting seeds in square water tanks that require oxygen and precise temperature, salinity, and light levels to mimic the sea as closely as possible. Each batch of seagrass cultivation takes about three months to produce seedlings that can be planted.

In 2010, P’Banjong’s team planted the seedlings at Bunkong Bay, a degraded and disappeared source of seagrass, to see if the sediment conditions were suitable for seagrass growth. When the results showed a reasonably high survival rate, they were planted and rehabilitated until later. From 2011 to 2015, 70% of the seagrass at Bunkong Bay was restored. When we saw signs of dugongs eating the seagrass, more fish began to live there, indicating the success of the restored seagrass area.

4. Continue the successful model at Khlong Son Beach and add 'Ecotourism activities'

When the seagrass cultivation model became stable in 2016, P’Banjong’s team used the knowledge to continue restoring it at Koh Phi and Khlong Son Beach, which were difficult to restore because they were open seas with large areas and sediment that took longer to recover. This time, 2,000 seedlings were brought to try to plant, and volunteers assisted in planting an additional 6,000 seedlings, until the seagrass source was restored and expanded to 10-20 rai.

Not only has Sikao District seen the success of seagrass restoration, but there is also a network in other provinces that is interested in this model, such as the Koh Libong community, which has come to study cultivation methods and has asked directly for seedlings. Furthermore, P’Banjong’s team did not forget the original area where the seeds were planted, so they had to bring seagrass seedlings back to plant in order to restore it. This is thought to foster a positive perception of the seagrass community within the network.

One of the issues with conservation work is that people initially work hard enough to complete it in 2-3 years. People in the community begin to tire due to costs, time, and the cultivation process. P’Banjong’s team then looked for ways to encourage the community to do more, so they integrated conservation into community tourism. What's cute is when a group of tourists arrives and collects grass for the community to plant. Another group arrived and planted seedlings, establishing a model for volunteer tourism and attracting more agencies interested in and supporting this activity in Trang Province.

5. In Goal Together, the foundation encourages young people to grow seagrass

Suthirat Foundation is one of the organizations focused on community sustainability. P’Banjong’s team has been leading conservation work for over ten years, and he wants the community to be strong enough to continue. Thus, we joined in the effort by bringing volunteers from all over the country to learn and work with communities and youth on seagrass restoration through the Goal Together project. We also provided funds to communities to carry out conservation activities and continue to restore seagrass in other areas. Because rehabilitation cannot be done by a single person or community but requires the cooperation of many people, including government agencies, educational institutions, and even communities, exchange forums must be held on a regular basis.

In addition to supporting the foundation, we set goals with Brother Banjong. Because of the success of Klong Son Beach, which has recovered more than 20 rai, we set a long-term goal of seeing sea grass in Sikao District, which has recovered up to 50 rai in just 5 years.

6. Seagrass and communities can revive with 'Collaboration'

“On the surface, the enjoyment of volunteering to plant seagrass stems from learning new things, seeing new things, and feeling good about doing good for the community. However, when viewed in a broader context, it has an impact on rehabilitation, food security, global warming mitigation, and environmental and global restoration. Finally, the outcomes affect all of us, who represent society as a whole.” P’Banjong concludes by inviting the next generation to join Goal Together and plant seagrass.

• You need to have a heart first. Do not aim for successful outcomes, but rather see the value in rehabilitation.
• You do not have to bring your knowledge with you, but you can come and exchange it with others, as volunteers can sometimes

come and add knowledge to the community. P’Banjong has always used this process, as both a receiver and a participant.
Anyone who wants to volunteer to plant sea grass with P’Banjong and our foundation in the beautiful southern sea atmosphere and euphoria. Please wait to see the latest news on our foundation page.