'Garbage Island': Lost then found again (Updated Saturday)

That floating sea of garbage seen in the Gulf of Thailand between Chumphon and Prachuap Khiri Khan has been found again and will take 10 days to clear.

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Saturday update

Chaiwat Satyam

'Garbage island' will take 10 days to clear

PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN: The huge floating garbage island in the Gulf of Thailand is largely plastic waste and a threat to marine life, according to authorities who say it will take 10 days to clear.

The trash slick was located again by an aerial survey on Friday, 10 kilometres away from its position on Thursday. It is now drifting between Koh Talu in Bang Saphan Noi district and a headland of Ao Mae Ramphueng in Bang Saphan district. Koh Talu is a popular shallow-water dive site in Prachuap Khiri Khan province.

Authorities estimate the floating junk, which was first spotted earlier in the week off Chumphon province and has been drifting northward, weighs 100 tonnes.

Winds have already scattered some of the trash and made collection a more difficult task, said Sopon Thongdee, deputy director-general of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources.

Officials expect to be working in the area for 10 days and will use speedboats and small fishing nets to collect the garbage, he said.

He said he hoped winds and waves would gather the garbage into a single mass to facilitate the operation.

The majority of the garbage consisted of plastic and was harmful to corals and marine life, especially turtles and dolphins that might mistake it for jellyfish and eat it, Mr Sopon said.

When plastic garbage sinks, it could cover and kill coral, he added. "It is necessary to remove the garbage from the sea as soon as possible."

Friday afternoon update

Huge floating garbage patch vanishes overnight

Chaiwat Satyaem

PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN - A floating sea of garbage found in the Gulf of Thailand moved overnight and was not to be seen when environment officials arrived in the area on Friday morning.

On Thursday evening an aerial survey located the 800 metre by 1 kilometre floating mass about eight kilometres east of Koh Talu, a popular shallow water dive site in the province.

But when environment officials arrived in the area on Friday morning in three speedboats to examine it closer, it was nowhere to be seen.

Sopon Thongdee, deputy director-general of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, said he personally saw the garbage patch from the plane on Thursday evening.

Now he was waiting for a satellite photo and a report from a military plane sent out to find it again. They would then start a cleanup operation.

The huge garbage patch might be composed of debris in water draining off the land after the recent floods, especially from Prachuap Khiri Khan and Chumphon provinces, Mr Sopon said. It was the biggest floating garbage patch ever seen in Thai waters. He estimated its mass at 100 tonnes.

Wind and wave action had probably moved it overnight. Once  located again, crane equipped boats with big nets, assisted by divers, would scoop up the garbage for proper disposal, he said.

Morning story

Island of trash drifts to Prachuap Khiri Khan

Treenai Chansrichon and Online Reporters

The large amount of garbage spotted in the seas off Chumphon province by a trawler a week ago has drifted up to Prachuap Khiri Khan, about 100 kilometres from where it was first found, the Royal Thai Navy said on Thursday.

Noppadon Thintaeb and other trawler crew members saw the garbage, which was 10 kilometres long, about 40 nautical miles off Pathiu district of Chumphon last Thursday while catching fish.

Mr Noppadon took four photos before his phone’s battery ran out. When he returned to shore on Monday, he posted the photos on his Facebook page along with a message that read, “The Gulf of Thailand is filled up with garbage from sloppy people.”

The photos went viral and sparked calls from the public for authorities to quickly deal with the situation and investigate the origin of the massive trash pile. Mr Noppadon told local media later that most of the floating garbage was not very biodegradable, such as plastic bags.

“I’ve never seen such a massive amount of garbage in the sea before,” he told Channel 7 on Tuesday.

Four days after the “sea of trash” photos were published online, a navy aircraft was sent from the 1st Naval Area Command-operated airport in Chumphon at the request of provincial authorities to conduct an aerial search of the sea off Chumphon and nearby areas to establish the coordinates of the floating garbage and plan the clean-up operation.

V-Adm Sursak Methayapa, commander of the 1st Naval Area Command, said the survey found the rubbish was now about eight nautical miles off Bang Saphan district, Prachuap Khiri Khan and only four nautical miles off Talu island. The island, locally known as Koh Talu, is a popular shallow diving spot in the Gulf of Thailand.

Chumphon governor Narong Ponla-iad said the clean-up would initially focus on scooping up the garbage on the surface now that the coordinates of the site were known.

Divers and marine conservationists would take charge of eliminating the trash below the surface. The work would involve manpower and resources from the provinces and numerous agencies including the navy, the Department of Fisheries, marine police and rescue units.

"The origin of the garbage will be investigated to come up with a long-term solution to the problem,” Mr Narong said.

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