Oil Slick puts Hua Hin Beach at it's dirtiest ever ?

[sateeb]

And the city and government seem to be doing little about tackling the problem. They should be throwing millions of baht at it. Mind you some Thais don't really know or seem to care as I saw many swimming yesterday around soi 106. I think its time to move somewhere else in the kingdom as this will take months if not years to remedy.

Ta Ta then...can you take Europtimiste with you as well as you 2 don't really like it here do you.......

[uncle tom]

I'm old enough to remember the Torrey Canyon disaster that ruined many English beaches in 1967, and the description of the oil sounds very similar to the heavy globulous Arabian crude that I saw washed up then. You can still see a tide mark of tar on many rocks in the south-west.

The oil in the sand will bio-degrade over time, and the warm waters of the gulf may be conducive to that happening faster than it did in the UK, but it won't happen overnight..

I recall that oil residues tended to gather on seaweed and driftwood, so ideally the beaches should be swept for debris on a daily basis through the coming high season. Those with interests in the tourist trade should petition the town authorities to see if that can be arranged.

Sweeping beaches is done routinely on many of the world's tourist areas, irrespective of pollution. If HH invested in the technology as a result of this, some lasting good might be achieved..

[buksida]

Fishermen claim one unidentified ship responsible for discharging oil into the sea off Mae Klong estuary
A ship of between 3,000-4,000 deadweight tonnage was spotted of deliberately discharging oil into the sea off the Mae Klong river estuary in Samut Sakhon province in mid-October, fishermen told Thai PBS.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the fishermen said that while they were fishing in the area, they saw the unidentified steel ship with all its lights off discharging oil into the sea.

They said they trailed the ship for about an hour for a distance of about 18 kilometres during when they shouted in vain for someone on the ship to stop the malpractice. They admitted they could not get close to the ship and could not see the name of the ship because it was very dark and the vessel switched off all its lights on board.

During the pursuit, one of them communicated with other fishing boats in the area by radio to help track the ship and to notify authorities concerned. He said he waited until five days afterward when no actions were taken by any authorities and decided to file a complaint with officials of Harbour Department in Samut Sakhon which coincided with the day when Hua Hin reported oil slicks in the sea and on the beaches.

Mrs Chongkolnee Rityyong, chairwoman of a group of Hua Hin residents dedicated to the development of beaches in the district, said that the culprit still remains free. She suggested stiff actions must be taken against the culprit as oil slicks have contaminated the sea and beaches in Hua Hin and undermine tourism business.

She said that in her 50 years of living in this popular seaside town, this was the first time that the shoreline was hit by oil slicks.

A cleanup campaign launched by Hua Hin municipal and parties concerned has removed oil slicks from the beaches. Tourism has returned to normal and holidaymakers are back to the sea in droves.

The district police superintendent Pol Col Chaiyaporn Saladecha said he was awaiting for more information from the Harbour Department.

It was reported that as much as 1,000 tonnes of oil were illegally discharged into the sea.

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/fisher ... ng-estuary

Note: All those moaning about not enough cleaning being done make the effort and join these guys: https://www.facebook.com/trashherohuahin/

[Big Boy]

Note: All those moaning about not enough cleaning being done make the effort and join these guys: https://www.facebook.com/trashherohuahin/

I applaud their efforts, but as I've already 'moaned' IMHO this needs to be done properly, and with the best will in the world, I don't believe these guys have the expertise nor the equipment to do the job. This is a lot more than picking debris off the shore.

When we (used to) walk the dogs on the beach, my son and I often gather bottles etc and bin them properly.

[uncle tom]

I don't believe these guys have the expertise nor the equipment to do the job

I'm sure they don't at present - the mechanised beach cleaners I've seen in the past don't look that complex however - tractor drawn efforts that rakes out solid debris with tines and flings it into a bin.

Don't think there's any smart way to lift large amounts of oil off the sand though, other than shovels and drums to put the cr@p in..

[HHTel]

"A cleanup campaign launched by Hua Hin municipal and parties concerned has removed oil slicks from the beaches. Tourism has returned to normal and holidaymakers are back to the sea in droves."

Do these 'reporters' sleep at night. Based on what they are being 'paid' to report falsehoods, I suppose so.

TIT!

[PeteC]

^^^^ If that story is correct and the act was intentional, we're back with disgruntled (unlicensed) fishing boat owners and disgruntled beach chair/food vendors as suspects IMO. The plot thickens, along with the oil. Pete

[Name Taken]

On the ThaiVisa site in the HH news section it is saying HH beach is back to normal.

A person would literally have to be mentally retarded to consider that website to be an honest and trustworthy news/information source about Thailand.

[HHTel]

On the ThaiVisa site in the HH news section it is saying HH beach is back to normal.

A person would literally have to be mentally retarded to consider that website to be an honest and trustworthy news/information source about Thailand.

Although that was posted on TV, the source was PBS English News and not TV. PBS being a government source, then it still can't be believed.

[StevePIraq]

Yesterday I was at Koa Takiab beach south of the mountain and there was oil seeping up from below the sand, also people coming out of the water with their feet covered in black sludge, this issue will not go away quickly

[oakdale160]

There issome improvement,a beach walk is now possible. It is obvious that it is the individual hotels and condos that have made an effort to rake and remove the oily debris from in front of their sites but the other parts are untouched.

[oakdale160]

Oh yes and if a drove is about 15, then itstrue

[SydneyGuy]

"normal" is a relative term:)

[STEVE G]

Seeing as how it should be relatively easy to work out how anyone doing anything legitimately had lost 1,000 tons of oil, my personal thoughts are that the culprits are these lot:

Oil smuggling is a multi-billion baht baht lucrative business in the deep South
http://www.isranews.org/isranews-articl ... 32086.html

[buksida]

That article may explain why oil has now found its way onto beaches in Songkhla: