CONSTRUCTION of a deepwater port at Pak Bara in Satun would lead to a domino-like collapse of the marine ecosystem in the entire South Andaman Sea - destroying scores of people's livelihoods and way of life, an environmental expert has warned.
National Reform Council member and leading marine biologist Thon Thamrongnawasawat said that if the port is built -on 4,000 rai (1,581 acres) of the Petra Marine National Park, the marine ecosystem in the area, as well as those from Phang Nga Bay to Lipe Island, would be destroyed.
"Pak Bara's sea is the same sea as the whole Andaman Sea. If the Pak Bara seaport is constructed, the connected ecosystem of the South Andaman shallow sea will be cut - the rich biodiversity will vanish forever," Thon told a forum at the Pak Bara Paradiso fair at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre on Friday.
Thon revealed that a study by his team had recently found a new species of soldier crab in the Pak Bara estuary that was only found in Pak Bara.
"The prime minister said the government would compensate those affected by the project but how would the government compensate these crabs, which are a treasure for everyone in the country," he said.
Thon said the Pak Bara seaport would be just the beginning of industrial development in the South.
"After building this seaport, the petrochemical industry and power plants will come. The people in the South will suffer the same fate as the people in Rayong's Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate," he warned.
Providing a tourism perspective, Kaiwut Chusakul of the Lipe Ferries and Speed Boats Company said that if the underwater environment was destroyed, the tourism industry would surely suffer - and local fishermen.
"The tourism industry is a sustainable economic development in the South," Kaiwut told the forum. "The people here can live well because they get what they need from the sea. But if there is no more natural resources from the sea, the tourism and fishing industries will collapse."
Andaman Foundation general secretary Somboon Khamhang told the forum the seaport would not be profitable as the time and cost needed to transfer goods across a bridge that would extend from Pak Bara to Songkhla seaport would be more expensive than transporting goods via Singapore.
"Many entrepreneurs in logistics and energy businesses - as well as foreign entrepreneurs - are looking forward to expanding their wealth through the project. Should the government care about their benefit rather than the people's benefit?" Somboon said. "Economic development in the South should be done via sustainable tourism, by carefully using our unique and rich ecosystem," he said.