GIANT clam shells more than a metre wide are being hawked to tourists in Rayong even as the Fisheries Department promotes a conservation project for the endangered species.
The department is soliciting donations from the public
for a Bt500,000 fund to support the Giant Clam Conservation Park
Project. The giant clam shells on sale in Rayong, meanwhile, are being
sold for
Bt120,000 each.
''I've never seen such large giant clams like this," said the owner, 29-year-old Somjai Fanmuang. ''Many people are interested in them and ask me for permission to take photographs."
Somjai, a marine souvenir shopkeeper at Ban Pae Pier in Rayong, also has green turtle carcasses on display for sale at Bt50,000 each. The indiscriminate killing of these and other endangered sea turtles by Thai fishing boats led the United States to impose an embargo on Thailand's wild shrimp exports last year.
Comments by Fisheries Department officials suggest that the sale of both the green turtles and giant clams may be illegal.
Somjai said that both the turtles and the clams were purchased from Thai fishing boats operating in Indonesian waters. The nine large giant clam shells have belonged to her since February, she explained, adding that she has agreements with fishing boats that operate in Indonesian and Philippine waters to sell her strange undersea creatures they collect.
Asked by what method the fishermen took the giant clams from Indonesia, Somjai replied, ''I don't know. You should ask him [the owner of the fishing boat]." But she refused to reveal any information about the boat.
The green turtle is a protected species listed under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), according to Rajit Jala, a fisheries conservation official, meaning that it is illegal to import it or export it.
It is also protected under Thailand's 1992 Wildlife Conservation Act, he added, which makes it illegal to sell at all in Thailand. Last year, Fisheries Department officials carried out raids on souvenir shops selling endangered sea turtles in Phuket in a bid to impress American authorities, who have since lifted the shrimp embargo.
The giant clam is also protected by Cites, but it is listed under Appendix II, meaning that trade is prohibited unless they are third-generation animals raised on a farm.
Somjai claimed that her business is legal.
''I have stopped catching them [giant clams] from the sea since 1995 when the new Wildlife Conservation Act was enforced. And I have already informed the Fisheries Department's officials about owning these nine large clams," she said.
However, Somboon Yen-Eang, director of the Fishery Control Division, pointed out that the time for seeking permission to trade in endangered species ended on April 16, 1995 meaning that Somjai could not have received the proper authorisation if she purchased the animals in February.
Somboon said that he will check on the sale of the giant clams.
''Trading still occurs under a three-year grace period. The owner can sell existing stocks according to the amount they have told officials, but cannot sell newly acquired ones," he said. The grace period will end on April 15 next year.
Many countries have tried to breed giant clams, and the Fisheries Department claims to have had success since 1994 with more than 100,000 embryos born. Last year, the Giant Clam Conservation Park Project was established in order to release them into the sea.
Plodprasop Suraswadi, the Fisheries Department's director general, recently invited the public to help support the project financially.
The agency plans to release the first 50,000 baby giant clams this year and next at Koh Tao in Surat Thani, at Rayong's Koh Mun Nai, and at Koh Lee Pae in Satun as a pilot project.
According to Somjai, her giant clams were unloaded from a fishing boat at Mahachai in Samut Sakhon province. She then transported them to Rayong.
''I don't know how heavy they are, but moving them from the crane into my shop took at least eight men," she said.
All of the large giant clams in Somjai's shop have been bought by Kimhor Leesengheng, the kamnan of Tambon Pae in Rayong, who plans to build a marine museum there.
Kimhor said that she wants students to know about the wonders of life under the sea.
''The nine giant clams are the largest I've ever seen. I think the new generation should know about them," she said.
According to Kimhor, the largest giant clam she has ever seen in Thailand is only one foot long.
Somjai reported that several years ago, a fishing boat which operated in Indonesian waters brought a giant sea fan the size of a pickup truck, which she later sold for a handsome profit.
''There are many strange creatures in the seas around Indonesia," she said.
An Indonesian embassy official commented that, ''If it's true that these endangered species came from Indonesian waters, then we regret it very much."
''Indonesia has a huge coastline which is very difficult
to control," he said. ''So Thailand, too, must take responsibility for
controlling its fishing boats."