Drifting gently in the emerald green waves off the coast of Chon Buri, a small army of mussels cling desperately to their maritime farms. These industrious molluscs, the foundation of the local fishermen’s livelihoods, are under siege. A formidable foe in the form of a dense bloom of plankton is turning the ocean into an aquatic Death Valley.
Marine researchers have reported instances where concentrations of plankton in the Gulf of Thailand have surged tenfold, transforming the water into a vibrant, yet deadly, canvas of jade and lime. The abnormally high plankton levels have, in fact, metamorphosed the water body into a wasteland, devoid of marine life. Tanuspong Pokavanich, a respected marine scientist, has painted an ominous portrait of the grim scenario saying, “I’ve never seen it be this bad. It’s exceptionally severe.”
Though plankton blooms typically make their yearly appearance once or twice, and for a duration of mere two or three days, their impacts on the marine environment can be profound. The toxins they produce are detrimental to the marine ecosystem, and they are capable of decimating sea life by siphoning off precious oxygen and blotting out the sunlight.
Chon Buri’s coastline is bedecked with mussel farms, forming a mesmerizing pattern of aquaculture sprawl. The current plankton invasion however, has left over 80% of the intricate network of these almost 300 farms in ruin, bemoans Satitchat Thimkrajong, the president of the Chon Buri Fisheries Association.
Veteran fishermen like Suchat Buwat are bearing the brunt of the crisis, their mussel farms turned into aquatic graveyards. Buwat and his brethren have suffered incalculable losses, running into hundreds of thousands of baht, due to the relentless proliferation of plankton.
The green wave triggered by the plankton overgrowth has proven disastrous for marine life off Chon Buri’s popular beaches, Bang Saen and Wonnapha with masses of fish perishing en masse. Notwithstanding this mass marine fatality, officials maintain that the seawater has retained its safety quotient for recreational activities, notwithstanding the drop in oxygen levels due to the plankton bloom.
The root causes behind the unfathomably dense plankton bloom continue to baffle scientists, but the overall consensus points towards a mix of pollution and rising sea temperatures, fuelled by climate change. Tanuspong warns, “El Niño brings about drought and an upsurge in sea temperatures. If we don’t reinvent the way we manage our resources, waste water and overall lifestyle, things will only get progressively worse.”
A similar catastrophic plankton bloom was the culprit behind the mass death of fish along a stretch of beach in Chumphon province earlier this year. Experts had fingered climate change for fanning the destructive proliferation. This year has also seen a spurt in marine heatwaves across the globe, negatively impacting marine life from the coast of Texas to Britain, further amplifying the clarion call for strategic, concerted action to safeguard our marine ecosystems.
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