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Abstract:
State
of
Water
Pollution and Habitat Degradation in the Gulf of Thailand
Piamsak Menasveta
Director, Marine Biotechnology Research Unit
Department of Marine Sciences
Chulalongkorn University
The Gulf of Thailand serves as a major marine resource for Thai people for a long time. However, recently due to industrialization and community development exert considerable stress on the marine environments and habitat degradation. The following pollution problems in the Gulf have been prioritized and discussed in details: - 1) Untreated municipal and industrial waste water were considered to be the most serious problems of the country due to limited waste water treatment facilities in the area. 2) Eutrophication is an emerging problem in the Gulf of Thailand. Fortunately, the major species of phytoplankton that have been reported as the cause of red tide phenomena were non-toxic species such as Noctiluca sp. and Trichodesmium sp. 3) Few problems have been documented from trace metals contamination in the Gulf of Thailand and public health threat from seafood contamination does not appear to be significant yet. 4) Petroleum hydrocarbon residue contamination has not been a problem, although few spills from small oil tankers have been recorded. Rapid decrease of mangrove forest, coral reefs, and fisheries resources due to mismanagement have also been discussed.
Presentation
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