News

              Walailak University (WU) under collaboration with the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT) has expanded the Blue Crab Bank Project to community tourism by launching Eat Crab Under the Moonlight Festival @Koh Phangan to boost the district’s economic flow and increase the income of the locals hard hit by the pandemic.

                Ms. Sukunya Theerakullert, expert and Chairperson of the Working Group to drive the expansion of the Blue Crab Bank Project, visited the field to catch up on the progress of the Blue Crab Bank Project at Koh Phangan, Suratthani province, and opened the Eat Blue Crab Under the Moonlight Festival @Koh Phangan. Welcoming the visiting panel was Asst Prof.Dr. Amonsak Sawusdee, Director for the Center for Academic Service Walailak University as Head of the Blue Crab Bank Project accompanied by Walailak University faculties, community leaders, and members of the project from Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani.

                Dr. Atirat Rattanaset, Deputy Minister of Transport joined the release of baby blue crabs to their natural habitat and thanked all the parties for coordinating the event for the tourists, and pointed out that blue crab conservation was an effective strategy to restore marine animals and the ecosystem.

                Asst. Prof.Dr. Amonsak Sawusdee gave an account that the Blue Crab Bank Project has been in motion since 2018. At present, statistics show that there has been an increase in the amounts of blue crabs in the commercial fishery from the daily average of 5 kilograms to 8-10 kilograms. This testified to the project being operated in line with an attempt to care for and maintain a coastal ecosystem and generate income for the local community concretely and empirically.

                In addition to promoting the operation of the Blue Crab Bank, Walailak University has also supported the community to create activities correlated with each of the community’s local identity to uplift the local economy such as promotion of creative fishing tourism, development of blue crab cuisine concerning local identities, promotion of online purchase channels. All these activities emerged to strengthen the marketing channel, especially during the outbreak.  

                However, besides the conservation purpose, the Koh Phangan Blue Crab Bank network coordinated the Eat Crab Under the Moonlight Festival between 7th and 9th January 2022 to boost the area’s economy while also publicizing Kho Phangan’s identity.

                This is part of the endeavor to constitute the area’s economic growth and publicize the Blue Crab Bank Project to those interested. The festival hosts an exhibition featuring the guideline on the Blue Crab Bank’s operation, seminars, blue crab release, blue crab cuisines, processed seafood, local goods, blue grab sports games as well as live in synchronization with the area’s selling point such as full moon and Half-moon.

                The festival received a positive response from the public, teenagers as well as international tourists partaking in the blue crab release to the sea and mentioning their readiness to travel with awareness of the conservation of marine resources.