Fishermen’s participation in marine litter collection schemes in Thailand

Abstract

Marine litter is a global environmental problem that poses various threats to the environment, the economy and society. Its impacts, for example, are the cost of beach cleaning, tourism, the beautiful landscape and etc. Marine litter, which later breaks into microplastics, affects marine lives contributing to the loss of economy to the people who depend on them. Several measures are used to tackle marine litter, including prevention and reduction of waste generation, prevention and reduction of litter reaching the marine environment, and marine litter removal. The latter is essential to clean already-at-sea litter or marine debris.

Thailand, among the top countries putting mismanaged plastic waste into the ocean, has committed the effort to tackle the marine litter and initiated the regional effort through the Bangkok Declaration on Combating Marine Debris and the ASEAN Framework of Action in 2019. At the same time, the Thai Department of Fisheries had introduced a voluntary marine litter collection scheme named Trash Back to Shores: Beautiful Seas with Our Hands to engage the fishermen to collect marine litter while they are in their fishing activities. The scheme, however, had not convinced many fishermen to participate. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate potential factors relating to Thai fishermen’s participation in the schemes based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Ten factors were investigated comprising environmental awareness and knowledge, personal concerns, social pressure, surrounding people, incentive, the readiness of supported practice, information, time and interests, size of vessels and ships adjustment and practice experience.

This study used questionnaire surveys and in-depth interviews to draw insights from 105 fishermen in three provinces, namely Samut Prakarn, Samut Songkhram and Phang Nga. The study found that the readiness of supported practice, information and practice experience potentially influenced their participation. The findings of this study highlight numerous policy recommendations for the improvement of the marine litter collection schemes. The fisheries associations and Port-In Port-Out Control Centers (PIPOs) could increase the dissemination of schemes' information, especially for the owners of vessels. Moreover, storing containers on-board and waste reception facilities are necessary to facilitate the schemes’ implementation. More actions should be done to reduce plastic waste and other wastes on land since more than 80 percent of marine debris are generated by land-based activities.