Seas and Coasts
Thailand’s seas are deteriorating year by year because of overfishing and climate change, while small-scale fishers bear the greatest impact. We support coastal communities to manage marine resources themselves through Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMA), alongside an economy that supports conservation.
Translated from Thai · reviewed by the CF team
The sea can truly recover when the people who live with it every day have the power to make decisions and benefit from caring for it themselves.
A sea under growing strain
Climate change, marine pollution and overfishing have caused Thailand’s marine resources to deteriorate continuously, with the greatest impact on small-scale fishing communities. Over the past ten years, the average catch per small-scale fishing boat has fallen sharply, from around 13 tonnes per boat in B.E. 2558 to just 3-5 tonnes per boat in B.E. 2564, undermining both ecological sustainability and livelihood security. In addition to ecological pressures, small-scale fishers face structural economic constraints, including limited access to markets and weak bargaining power over prices. These constraints push them to catch more fish to survive, adding further pressure to already fragile marine ecosystems.
Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMA)
A “Locally Managed Marine Area” (LMMA) is an area of sea or coastline where local communities play the leading role in managing and protecting resources, often working with government agencies or support organisations through participatory decision-making. Community members set and enforce their own rules, such as no-take zones, seasonal fishing closures or restrictions on fishing gear, drawing on both local wisdom and scientific data. This approach emphasises community ownership and stewardship rather than relying solely on centralised control. It is widely recognised as an effective mechanism for community-based marine conservation and sustainable coastal development.
From conservation to an economy that supports it
Marine conservation can be sustainable only when it is linked to the livelihood security of people who live with the sea. We therefore support communities to develop economic activities that reduce pressure on resources, alongside financial mechanisms that channel income from those activities back into conservation. This means marine restoration is not a burden that communities must bear alone, but part of a system that can sustain itself over the long term.
Small-scale fishing communities along Thailand’s coastline, particularly on the Andaman coast and in the lower Gulf of Thailand, which depend on marine resources as their main source of livelihood. The work began in four southern coastal provinces: Satun, Songkhla, Phatthalung and Nakhon Si Thammarat, covering both open sea areas and the Songkhla Lake ecosystem.
- 01 Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMA)—Support communities to map resources by hand, define conservation area boundaries, establish management committees and set shared rules for resource use. At the same time, promote the development of standard criteria accepted by government agencies and applicable for nationwide expansion.
- 02 A resource-based economy that supports conservation—Work together to design community enterprises that reduce pressure on resources, such as fish processing, ecotourism and fishing gear cooperatives, and establish mechanisms for part of the profits to flow back into community conservation funds.
Sea Guardians
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Choose the question that fits your role. Answers are summarised from our own records of the work, and you can talk to the CF team from any card.
What change does this work create, and how do you know it is effective?
In the first year, 15 communities established LMMA committees and managed a total area of 24,987.25 rai, alongside 6 MOUs and economic ventures in 7 communities. However, the monitoring period is still too short to confirm ecosystem recovery.
Sea Guardians reported changes in area management, collaboration and community enterprises, but further monitoring of ecological evidence is needed before drawing conclusions about long-term outcomes. UpdatePublication of the first-year Sea Guardians Impact Report 2024-2025
- Sea Guardians In the first year, 15 communities established LMMA management committees covering an area of 24,987.25 rai and signed 6 MOUs with a network of 58 agencies. The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources adopted 19 LMMA assessment criteria for further development as the basis for national standards. UpdatePublication of the first-year Sea Guardians Impact Report 2024-2025
- 7 communities received seed funding and advice to develop resource-based economic enterprises, and 15 communities began collecting their own baseline fisheries data. UpdatePublication of the first-year Sea Guardians Impact Report 2024-2025
- The report cautions that monitoring for only 1 year and collecting data at just 2 time points, before and after, are not enough to distinguish the effects of LMMA from seasonal or fisheries changes. Ecological recovery therefore cannot yet be confirmed. ProjectSea Guardians
- Based on these lessons, the project plans to monitor data across multiple seasons and years, while expanding its work in the second year from 15 to 30 communities. UpdateFirst-year lessons: Uneven understanding of LMMA and overlapping government mandates are the biggest challenges UpdatePlanning for year 2: expanding from 15 to 30 communities, focusing on unresolved issues from the first year
How was this work carried out, and what lessons can be applied going forward?
We work through LMMAs, where communities set boundaries and rules, connect government agencies with academic partners, develop the community economy and collect scientific data. The lesson is that shared understanding and monitoring systems need further development.
Sea Guardians uses 4 interconnected mechanisms: community-based LMMA management, collaboration with government agencies and academic partners, a resource-based economy, and scientific data. ProjectSea Guardians
- Sea Guardians supports communities in mapping resources, setting boundaries, establishing committees and setting shared rules for resource use. It also develops 19 criteria for assessing LMMAs. ProjectSea Guardians
- The Project connects communities with government agencies through MOUs and develops business models based on the resources and needs of each area. It allocates 10-20% of profits to support LMMA conservation work and another 5% to the TSWA revolving fund. ProjectSea Guardians
- Communities collect baseline and monitoring data on aquatic species, quantities and weights, with additional in-depth studies in some communities. ProjectSea Guardians
- Lessons from the first year include inconsistent understanding of LMMAs and enforcement of rules, overlapping responsibilities among government agencies, economic enterprises still being at an early stage, and data from only 1 year being insufficient to analyse trends reliably. UpdateFirst-year lessons: Uneven understanding of LMMA and overlapping government mandates are the biggest challenges
- The Project therefore plans to build a shared understanding of LMMAs with the government, establish area-level working groups, and expand data monitoring to cover multiple seasons. UpdatePlanning for year 2: expanding from 15 to 30 communities, focusing on unresolved issues from the first year
What kinds of areas is this approach suitable for, and what is needed to get started in our area?
This approach works with coastal small-scale fishing communities that depend on the sea. It starts by mapping resources, defining boundaries, establishing a committee and setting rules. We have not yet documented readiness criteria or the minimum resources needed for a new area.
This work focuses on small-scale fishing communities that depend on marine resources for their livelihoods. It began in Satun, Songkhla, Phatthalung and Nakhon Si Thammarat, covering both open sea and the Songkhla Lake ecosystem. This Issue UpdateBeginning work with the first 15 communities in 4 southern coastal provinces
- Sea Guardians selected areas for its first year based on communities’ readiness to organise and the diversity of their ecological contexts. UpdateBeginning work with the first 15 communities in 4 southern coastal provinces
- The project’s approach to starting an LMMA includes jointly mapping resources, defining conservation area boundaries, establishing a committee, setting rules for resource use and organising a system for monitoring data. ProjectSea Guardians
- Examples of community-defined rules include no-take zones, seasonal fishing closures in the bay and restrictions on types of fishing gear. These draw on local wisdom alongside scientific data. This Issue
- The work also connects government agencies and academic partners through MOUs. It may develop community enterprises that help reduce pressure on resources, with some profits channelled back into conservation work. ProjectSea Guardians
We have not specifically documented readiness criteria, minimum resources or steps for starting the project in a new area.
What methods or tools can we start using right away?
Tools that can be introduced include resource maps, LMMA rules and regular recording of aquatic species data, with the community jointly defining boundaries, forming a committee and monitoring its own area.
The LMMA approach centres on communities defining and managing their own areas, using both local knowledge and data collected in practice. This Issue
- Sea Guardians starts by creating resource maps by hand, defining area boundaries, forming a committee and jointly setting rules, such as no-take zones, seasonal fishing closures or restrictions on fishing gear. ProjectSea Guardians
- Another tool is recording basic fisheries data, such as species, the weight of the catch and bycatch species. Each community selects 2-3 key species to monitor over the long term. UpdateSetting up a community-based fisheries data monitoring system and collecting baseline data before management begins
- Data collected before measures are introduced can be compared with subsequent monitoring results. In some areas, science teams help collect samples to study eDNA and plankton. UpdateSetting up a community-based fisheries data monitoring system and collecting baseline data before management begins
- One example from Khon Khlan is training fisheries volunteers to patrol the LMMA zone and organising a monitoring system, with rules set jointly by the community. UpdateBan Boe: Khon Khlan upgrades its traditional small-scale fishing boundary to an officially recognised LMMA
- However, lessons from the first year indicate that data collection is still new and that 1 year of data is too short to confirm a recovery trend, so monitoring should continue across several seasons. UpdateFirst-year lessons: Uneven understanding of LMMA and overlapping government mandates are the biggest challenges UpdatePlanning for year 2: expanding from 15 to 30 communities, focusing on unresolved issues from the first year
How does this work connect to systemic issues, and what kind of collaboration is needed?
This work addresses marine degradation and the market constraints faced by small-scale fishers, which may increase pressure on resources. We are looking for collaboration on law, science, funding and market access, not funding alone.
Thailand’s seas face pressure from climate change, pollution and overfishing. At the same time, small-scale fishers face constraints in market access and bargaining power over prices, which increases pressure to catch more marine animals. This Issue
- Sea Guardians found that overlapping mandates among government agencies make some joint measures inconsistent, and community enterprises still need to develop their markets, brands, product standards, and financial and accounting systems. UpdateFirst-year lessons: Uneven understanding of LMMA and overlapping government mandates are the biggest challenges
- The work therefore connects community-based management with coordination with government and academic partners, the development of a resource-based economy, and systems for monitoring scientific data. ProjectSea Guardians
- The collaboration we are looking for includes government agencies that can jointly develop a mechanism to certify community areas; organisations and academics who can help develop ecological data systems; funding partners for economic mechanisms that link income with conservation; and private-sector partners or market channels that can help community products and services reach consumers. This Issue
- Drawing on lessons about overlapping mandates, the Project plans to establish a local-level LMMA working group with the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources and the Department of Fisheries. UpdatePlanning for year 2: expanding from 15 to 30 communities, focusing on unresolved issues from the first year
Expanding Locally Managed Marine Areas to cover more of Thailand’s coastline requires a wider range of partners, not just funding.
- Government agencies ready to co-design mechanisms to give community-managed areas clear legal status and enable them to be scaled up nationwide
- Marine science organisations and academics to work together on developing ecological monitoring systems that communities can use in practice
- Funding partners interested in supporting resource-based economic mechanisms that link community income with long-term conservation
- Private sector partners and market channels to help coastal community products and services reach a wider range of consumers