Bangkok Post
March 16, 2002

A plan to remove obstructing river reefs will clear the way for more trade between China, Burma, Laos and Thailand but there could be a downside, say some.

Life seems simple for Phan Luangvises of Baan Kang Kai, a small village by the Mekong River in Chiang Rai’s Chiang Khong district. Phan grows fruit and goes fishing for a living.

The 48-year-old’s main income comes from selling the oranges, lamyai (longan) and lychee he grows in his orchard to a downtown market about 10 kilometres away. When he needs extra food for the family, he crosses the road to the river bank and takes his boat to the Kang Kai reef.

“There are more than 10 kinds of fish out there,” he said. “When I’m free from tending my orchard or I have nothing else to do, I go and catch some.”

Phan is worried about the dynamite that young Laotian people living across the river use to catch fish. Explosive devices are a short cut for fishing, he says, as there is no need for tactics, patience, or sweat. But using explosives is also short-sighted since it depletes fish resources faster.

“Just one drop of dynamite in the water and all fish, big and small, are killed instantly. Small fish are often killed prematurely,” he said, looking frustrated. “We can’t do anything; it’s their territory.”

The Mekong River forms the border between Thailand and Laos in the Chiang Rai area, but the borderline has not been demarcated.

Veteran fishermen like Phan normally use nets or a wing-trap, which has wide arms to funnel fish into a trap. The trap is the most common fishing method used by Thais and Laotians, said Tyson Roberts, a Bangkok-based researcher with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in the United States.

But much larger explosions than the ones already experienced may soon be a feature of life on the river.

Kang Kai forms part of the larger Khon Pi Luang reef which is due to be cleared soon to enable cargo ships with a capacity of up to 500 tonnes to pass.

The Chiang Khong reef is one of 11 that officials from Thailand, Laos, China and Burma have agreed to partially remove. Nine of the other reefs are located between Burma and Laos and another is in China. The four countries have deemed the reefs an obstruction to the trade they hope will flourish after the launch of the Mekong Commercial Navigation agreement in June last year.

The pact gives the green light for ships registered with any of the four nations to travel freely and smoothly for 900 kilometres, from Simao port in the southern Chinese province of Yunnan to Luang Prabang in northern Laos.

That will encourage trade in the region. As part of the initiative, Thailand will construct ports in the Chiang Rai districts of Chiang Saen and Chiang Khong.

But trade activities will flourish only if large ships can cruise along the river. Now only small vessels of less than 200 tonnes’ capacity work the route. Skippers encounter difficulties making progress, especially during the dry season when the water level sinks sharply. At these times the reef in Chiang Khong prevents boats from going beyond Chiang Saen.

“It’s the most dangerous reef in the area,” said Phan. “Only experienced navigators can get by it.”

On January 30, the Thai government approved a plan to clear the Chiang Khong reef, with financing from its Chinese counterpart. Beijing has earmarked $5 million (220 million baht) to blast all 11 reefs in a scheme some people expect to start within months in order to take advantage of the period when the water level reaches its lowest point.

Officials and traders have welcomed the plans which they believe will lead to a sharp increase in trade among the four nations. They also feel confident that the operation will not be unduly damaging.

“The entire reef won’t be wiped out,” said one official on condition of anonymity. “We are well aware of the fact that reefs in the Mekong are attractive and are an asset for tourism, so only rocks that block navigation will be removed.”

Sermchai Kittirattanapaiboon, president of the Chiang Rai Chamber of Commerce, supports the plan but warned that a thorough study was necessary to ensure that it would not disrupt the environment. “It should not mean clearing anything at will, because that could endanger the ecological system,” he said.

Phan expects good things to come of the plan. Having seen many lives lost from ships hitting the reef near his village, he believes the blasting will ensure safety for river commuters and tourists. “There will be no more deaths,” he said.

His thinking is hardly surprising. Once-remote Chiang Khong now has paved roads which reach almost every corner of the district and enable inhabitants to transport products from their backyards directly to market.

Villagers no longer depend entirely on the river, as their ancestors did in the past. They earn their living from growing fruit, and fishing has become a job of secondary importance.

But their neighbours in Laos still rely on fish from the Mekong as their main source of food. The river is also that country’s lifeline. Only three per cent of the land in landlocked Laos is suitable for farming, most of it located along the river.

“Millions of Laotians rely on the Mekong. Their lives will be affected by so many changes on the river,” said Laotian Ambassador Hiem Phommachanh.

The Laotian government had not yet approved the dredging plan, he said.

Environmentalists have already cried foul about the plan to clear the reefs. Terra (Towards Ecological Recovery and Regional Alliance), a Bangkok-based non-governmental organisation monitoring environmental problems in Southeast Asia, has openly opposed the clearance move, saying it fears major disruption of the life cycles of riverine inhabitants.

Tyler Roberts, who has spent over 30 years studying ecology and fish systems in the Mekong basin, described the reefs as “the most productive of any riverine habitat” since they serve as breeding grounds, a source of food and safe havens for fish and other forms of aquatic life, including plants, molluscs and rare species. “Their importance in this respect is out of proportion to their size or extent,” said the researcher.

Rocks provide shelter for fish and other species to escape predators, he added. Reefs also play an important role in producing oxygen, reducing pollution and even breaking up vegetable matter such as leaves, branches and tree trunks which are part of the food chain.

“Biodiversity in rapids is probably higher than in any other kind of riverine habitat. Often the species inhabiting rapids are poorly known or unknown to science because of the difficulty in collecting them,” Roberts added.

Downstream, Cambodia and Vietnam have aired their concerns about the dredging, saying fewer reefs could change the flow of water into their countries, posing problems for farming and other activities. The Phnom Penh-based Mekong River Commission, which governs water-management and development projects related to the lower basin of the river, wanted to be included in the clearance study. But the commission has had no say in activities launched by the countries upstream.

Laos wants a careful study conducted into the environmental impacts of the clearance plan. It also wants Cambodia and Vietnam to have a role in the final decision-making process because both nations also share the river, which rises in Tibet and flows into the sea via its delta in southern Vietnam.

“The Mekong River is not for Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and China [alone]. It also flows to Cambodia and Vietnam,” the Laotian ambassador said. “If the clearance [plan] poses problems for the countries downstream, we have to reconsider [it].”

“It is unfair if the project yields benefits for four countries but the others get nothing,” the ambassador added.