Almost There...

     Yesterday was more or less uneventful. We returned to Kan Tang to complete the sample selection. Unfortunately, there were many ponds that I had identified on the satellite imagery that no longer existed. I felt validated, however, because it was clear that the ponds had previously existed, but that they had been filled in and replanted. Although we did not get as many samples for Kan Tang as for Palian, I am confident in the samples we did obtain.
     I am a little confused by some of the results from the water quality tests. My project intends to measure nitrogen dynamics in these ponds, and the ponds that appear to be operational/inhabited always give middle-range or high-range nitrogen readings, as one would expect. The tests from the other ponds that appear decommissioned or overgrown usually come back with zero readings across the board. I suppose that is also to be expected; when nature is allowed to take its course, phytoplankton and algae would take over the pond, sinking the excess nitrogen that had been released in the feeding of the shrimp and the shrimp excrement. Still, I am not sure what these numbers are telling me as far as further implications.

lolz, #lunch

     My working hypothesis is that the ponds that give zero readings should be thrown out, and that only the ponds with the middle-range and high-range nitrogen readings should be considered. Because the ponds with the zero readings have been allowed runaway growth and eutrophication, it would make sense that no dissolved nitrogen is present in the water. But at that point, the harmful effects of nitrogen loading have already taken place. The fully operational ponds, however, do not want phytoplankton and algae growth, so they are maintained to avoid such blooms, which leads to increased dissolved nitrogen. Those ponds are the nexus where nitrogen loading should be evaluated. Some further reading and discussing with my professor should elucidate these complex dynamics.
     Today we are up earlier than usual in order to try and hit all of the final Si Kao group ponds in one fell swoop. I am not optimistic about being able to reach all of them, however, because I remember that I had lower resolution satellite imagery for the area surrounding Si Kao, which should lead to more inaccuracies than usual. Hopefully, at least 20 of them will actually exist. In other news, yesterday's testing took so little time that I was able to enjoy the resort. Although we only had a couple hours of sun after the morning sample collection, I was able to bake in the sun for a little while and eat a nice lunch on the grassy area behind our room. Stay tuned!

Change in Scenery

The kinds of 'roads' we drive down to
find these ponds...

     Today was much the same as the last couple of days. Drive down a paved road until the GPS tells us to turn off in search of a pond, navigate the gravel roads avoiding pot holes and soft spots, get out, talk to the maintenance workers, sample water, and repeat. We decided to move our home base to a place that my father wanted to see, a beach resort near Si Kao, and I am not complaining because it is absolutely beautiful. Outside my back window, there is a view of a river with a koh in the background, and the breakfast patio from which I write this post overlooks a similar vista. Last night we went to eat dinner at a beachside restaurant a couple kilometers from the resort, same picturesque setting.
     I saw my first shrimp today. Usually, the ponds are deep enough and the water dark enough that my eyes cannot penetrate into the parts where the shrimp live. They are bottom feeders, so they would not be readily apparent from the surface. The man we encountered raised up a little net of shrimp, and we were able to see the size of these things. They were about ready for harvest, and they looked healthy although I am not trained to detect disease in shrimp. This man's operation was just above the most rudimentary of ponds; the pond had no liner, and the aeration was sparse. I can only imagine what sorts of yields the people we saw later in the day would be getting.

SHRIMPIES!

     We were making good time, so we decided to go check out another cluster of ponds. As we drew nearer, we realized that these ponds were enclosed by fences and gates. We had not encountered any enclosures until that point, and we tried driving around to see if there was another entrance. Although the people in Thailand seem happy and not suspicious of our motives, it is decidedly not a good idea to go hopping fences or crawling under gates, so we stopped the car outside one of the gates and started beeping the horn. We could see that there was a house just inside the gate, but whoever lives there was either ignoring us or out tending to the massive shrimp ponds we could see in the distance. After that gate, we tried a different one we had seen earlier, and there was a man walking by just as we pulled up. He opened the gate, and we struggled to explain what we wanted, and he was more than happy to let us in and talk to us. This cluster had 8 ponds, and 7 were operational at the time. After doing the water quality tests, it was apparent that these ponds were the most well-managed in the sense that the nutrient levels were optimal for shrimp growth, but not so great from an environmental perspective.

Dinner with a view: a typical Thai 'koh'

     That was the last cluster of ponds we did yesterday. We are returning to the same area in order to try and gain access to the other cluster where no one was home, but honestly I just want to enjoy this beach resort because it is unlike anything I have ever seen. The koh do not even appear real; I wonder sometimes if I am trapped in the matrix or something... EEK! Goals for today are to knock out the remainder of the Kantang group and start on the Si Kao group so that maybe I can spend some time enjoying the resort rather than sitting on the bathroom floor testing water quality all evening. Stay tuned!