Awards

Crab bank, Walailak University, National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT) won two first-place awards and one first runner-up award in the national blue swimming crab bank award at Thailand Research Expo 2021. The team received prizes of more than 160,000 Baht in total.  The application called “LayKhon” will soon be available for purchasing blue swimming crabs online.

On November 26, 2021, Asst. Prof. Dr. Amornsak Sawusdee, PhD, director of the Center for Academic Service and head of research projects and academic services to preserve blue swimming crab resources, revealed three crab banks from Walailak University (WU) had participated in the ideal of crab bank system competition. Organised by the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT), the competition was part of Thailand Research Expo 2021 and drew more than 500 participants from all over the country.

The results showed that the Crab Bank, Walailak University, won three awards as follows:

1) First Prize Type of Community Blue Crab Bank Learning Center, namely Ban Nai Thung Blue Crab Bank Learning Center, Tha Sala District, Nakhon Si Thammarat

2) Winner of the “Best blue swimming crab learning resources'', Ban Hat Somboon Blue Crab Bank, Surat Thani province.

3) First runner-up award for the newly established community crab bank category, Ban Tha Phaya Crab Bank, Pak Phanang District, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province.

The total prize money received was more than 160,000 baht.

“Sustainable crab conservation projects, or crab banks, in Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani provinces, are under the responsibility of Walailak University in association with the National Research Council of Thailand. At the same time, run by the Center for Academic Services, Walailak University, they established the crab bank learning center in order to transfer the knowledge and necessary skills related to the crab bank system, which shows that the number of blue crabs in the areas mentioned above has significantly increased. Previously, the average daily catch of blue crab was just 5kg.  However, since implementing this project, the daily catch has increased to more than 10-15kg, with catches of 40-60kg reported during the monsoon season. Overall, it has provided a distinct source of revenue for the fishing community, allowing for the long-term development of their economy”, stated, Asst. Prof. Dr. Sawusdee, PhD.

Rewritten by Papada Sritheerawichai, School of Liberal Arts, English, the Division of Corporate Communication Cooperative Education student.