Educational Services for Transferring Knowledge and Technology to Promote Sustainable Management of Fisheries Resources with Community Participation

07Nov 2022 by Krittayot Ritthijak

Outreach and Engagement

The Center for Academic Service Walailak University, which is led by Assist. Prof. Dr. Amonsak Sawusdee, the marine science expert, has organized a training outreach program to educate fishermen and those involved in applying knowledge for marine resources and coastal ecosystem restoration. WU worked closely with the Department of Fisheries, the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, and local NGOs to regularly organize free activities for 2021, as portrayed below:

WU organized training activities to educate fishermen and fishery stakeholders related to provincial resources on the biology of aquatic animals linked to sustainable fisheries utilization, including the size of aquatic animals suitable for benefit, prohibition of fishing in the spawning season, conservation of the spawning grounds and aquatic animal habitats, and establishing a grouping mechanism for communities to collaborate in the activities to restore fishery resources in their community areas.

Training and technology transfer activity on aquaculture for restoration, such as young blue crab’s aquaculture in the Zoea and young stages, was organized to enable fishermen who catch berried female blue crabs to breed them and release the young blue crabs back into the sea. In addition, the activity created knowledge and understanding of the ecological management process in the hatchery, water quality, and aquatic animal feed at each stage, care and practices throughout the incubation, and the appropriate release of young blue crab cubs back to the sea to increase the survival rate in nature. In addition, the activity has also expanded into the promotion of blue crab fishing lifestyle tourism.

WU has organized training activities on responsible fisheries and creating an artificial habitat to be a habitat and refuge for aquatic animals. These activities also aimed to build a complex ecosystem to maintain the biodiversity of aquatic animals in the fishing ground area, such as building fish houses, releasing young aquatic animals back into the Thai sea, and collecting garbage in water for the public.

There is the activity to transfer knowledge from the research with the Department of Fisheries. WU held a meeting with the local fishermen’s association, commercial fisheries of Thailand, private agencies, the Thai Frozen Foods Association, and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to apply knowledge from fishery biology, oceanography, and the social economy of fishermen community, which led to the application of research in policy formulation of the Fishery Refugia area declaration in Ban Don Bay, a vital fishery area of the Gulf of Thailand.