Villagers in southern Thailand set up a "crab bank" to give back to the ocean

By Li Xinyi, interviews and reports

You’ve heard of lending banks, umbilical cord blood banks… but in Thailand, there’s something called a “crab bank”! However, this isn’t a place where you deposit crabs to get more crabs in return. Instead, it was voluntarily initiated by villagers from Krangpao Village in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, aiming to maintain the marine ecological balance. Whenever local villagers catch female crabs carrying eggs, they must hand them over to the “crab bank.” Once the eggs hatch, the mother crabs are returned to the villagers, while the baby crabs are released back into the sea to continue growing.

Located within the marine park of Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, the small village of Krangpao is about 800 kilometers from Bangkok. With only twenty to thirty households, the village relies on fishing for a living. Besides forming the self-initiated “crab bank,” the villagers also use nets with fairly large holes—around 2 cm wide—to avoid catching undersized crabs.

Beyond the village’s environmental efforts, during the months from February to May, large fishing boats are prohibited from venturing out to sea in this area to allow the marine ecosystem time to recover. During this period, larger vessels undergo maintenance, while only small fishing boats are allowed to operate. By maintaining the balance of the food chain, dolphins are often spotted in these waters, making whale watching a popular local tourist attraction. This approach to ecological conservation is truly worth emulating.

In addition to the protection by local residents, at the maritime border between Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani lies a small island called Koh Nui, which is home to the shrine of the revered Thai monk Luang Por Tuad. It is said that over a hundred years ago, during a local drought, this highly respected monk discovered a freshwater spring on the island, solving the water shortage problem. To this day, fresh water still flows from underground at the spring site, and stories of the monk’s miracles continue to spread across Thailand. Temples dedicated to him have been built in various locations, such as Wat Huay Mongkol in Hua Hin (for more details, see www.tripass.net/article.php?op=articleinfo&articleid=5922).