Social Change
As part of the National Economic and Social Development Plan, the Rural Development Division developed a quality of life index to assess the living conditions of people in rural areas (MoI 2008). A total of 28 indices and 31 areas of concern are included in the assessment comprising six main categories: i.e., basic infrastructure (such as roads, water and electricity); occupation and employment (e.g., jobs, productivity, and home based business); health and safety; education; social capital; and environment and natural resources. According to the 2007 assessment (MoI 2008), about 85% of the villages in the four provinces included in the study were considered to have high quality level (i.e., having been identified with less than 5 out of 31 areas of concern). The areas of primary concern were local capacity building, availability of sport facilities, accessibility to financial capital, soil quality, and education
Secondary issues were employment rate, water quality, land use, and agricultural production. While these factors underlined some of the problems that fishing communities face, there were also certain livelihood conditions that were advantageous to fishers. For example, fishers in the Krabi and Prachuab Khiri Khan provinces were able to diversify their portfolio by working in rubber, palm sugar, and coconut plantations. Those in Chanthaburi province were engaged in small-scale fish cage culture or shellfish culture (blood cockles), which brought additional income to the families. Some of the fishers in Chanthaburi were involved in tourism businesses by selling their catches directly to tourists, or by providing “homestay” services. Opportunities for livelihood diversification were less available for fishers in Ranong province, but at least they were able to use multiple gears to target different fish species according to their seasonal availability.