This image was taken in 1993 or possibly 1994.

I was working for Manager Magazine and decided to live with a Muslim Fishing village in Trang for around about 15 days. I learnt to place the nets out at night and pull them in in the morning. I think this was my 2nd ever assignment for the magazine. The villagers were some of the kindest people I have ever met. One funny thing was though, I had been speaking only Thai for over two weeks and when was asked for my order in a restaurant back in town could not switch my thinking back to English again for a few seconds.

The fishing village were being helped by a great NGO Yad Fon to save the coral reefs from the big trawlers coming through ripping the reefs apart with their nets ( an old and continuous battle). What they did was fill oil kettle drums with cement, that had steel bars sticking out of them. These would help two fold, it would ripe the trawlers nets and help create new coral beds. Coral is were young fish are born, grow and survive, no coral or mangrove enclaves no new fish. The traditional fishing methods, pictured here,  don’t destroy coral and are sustainable.

I hope they won their small battle, I remember the village with deep gratitude and respect.