Sinking Bangkok garbage trucks in Gulf 'could harm ecosystem'
Scientists alarmed at rusty reefs
Sinking Bangkok garbage trucks in Gulf 'could harm ecosystem'
Marine scientists are worried about a Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and Fisheries Department plan to ditch old refuse-collection vehicles into the Gulf of Thailand to form artificial reefs.
Kasetsart University expert Thorn Thamrongnasawadi said marine ecosystems in the South could be damaged by the dumping.
"We have to consider what and how much we are dumping into the sea before we start," he said.
Thorn is afraid iron in the lorries will pollute the sea when it rusts and harm ecosystems. Nevertheless, he is not 100 per cent against the idea of "man-made reefs".
But he demands they be well designed and built by marine experts.
Fisheries Department director-general Jaranthada Karnasuta insisted officials and Prince of Songkhla University scientists would closely monitor the project.
"Don't be afraid about rust - it is iron oxide; a natural mineral," said Jaranthada.
He added it would not be the first time man-made objects had been dumped into the sea to create artificial reefs. Each year the department constructs concrete reefs in the gulf. Five years ago, several hundred train carriages were dumped off the Narathiwat coast. All potential toxic substances were removed before they were sunk, he said.
Some 200 decommissioned Bangkok city refuse-collection and water vehicles were recently loaded aboard vessels bound for Pattani.
Jaranthada said they would be sunk off the Pattani coast tomorrow.
The reefs they create will become a habitat for fish and other marine life and sustain small-scale fishing, he added.
The Nation
