Many times, the trip to relax on the beach and taste seafood with family over the weekend is full of doubts. Not the taste of the food that has changed because the menu I ordered still tasted the same. Not because of the bad management because the staff are still smiling and welcoming. But it is the size of the raw materials that get smaller every time we encounter that sometimes I thought of canceling the order because the portion is not worth paying for. Sometimes, there’s even often a response from the waitress once we ordered the menu that,
“The restaurant could not source these raw materials”, she sadly relied.
What happened to the Thai sea? In the beginning, I thought that it was because of the wrong timing during the season, so some species of fish were not in the catch of fishermen. But the recent news of complaints that have arisen to stop the sale of mackerel offspring to sustain breeding and warnings about the Thai sea situation through research on various topics appeared on the news many times has shaken Thai society to wake up from dreams.
In fact, Thai seafood is almost gone. The resources at sea were so difficult to restore in a short time. The sea is sick and in need of help. That is what the sea has always whispered to us.
The sea signaled us already. Bu what do we say to ourselves? The limitless fishery that people catch everything is happening and we may not have tomorrow for the fishery anymore. Our gulf of Thailand is in the bad condition. This is the message that we need to always remind to ourselves all the time.
Not only the sea because the same thing is also happening on the land. We farm like crazy, grow plants, use fertilizer, use a lot of chemicals to get the most productivity without caring about the safety and quality. The land is angry is complaining about the arrogance of many humans who are against nature. This may result as a product surplus that the price goes low as a punishment from our earth one day.
The massive use of chemicals and pesticide is no different to the use of destructive fishing gear that destroy the ecology of the sea and the land. I can still see some exit for these issues, however, myself and many people would have to find the common solutions in order to make our sea and land survive.
Can we catch fish from the sea at the same time as aquaculture? Can we consume the aquaculturally fish and let the nature continue when it’s mating season? This also goes to farming that the organic farming may not be able to produce some crops at some season. But is it possible if we can consume some other vegetable instead of forcing it to chemically grow?
This is like when you eat too much food, are you get fat or when you have too much medicine, your liver and kidney get damaged. I said this metaphor to make things sound clearer.
Everything written here is for everyone to know that eating today and sustaining enough to be eaten tomorrow can only be done if we just reduce our desire to taste everything while letting the nature restore itself. There is no perfect place in this planet to eat everything all year long and forever. Everyone should know that!
Author
Pianchai Makmee
Independent Writer