Underwater photography is all about otherworldly charm; the deep-blue opacity and aquatic animals can transport us into another realm. But those exquisite images are not the style preferred by Sirachai "Shin" Arunrugstichai, a 28-year-old marine conservationist and photographer whose work is not just about beauty but about man's obligations toward the ocean.
"There are two types of underwater photos. One is concerned with aesthetics, those beautiful scenes of fish, coral reefs and underwater landscapes. The other is realistic and aims to show the current condition of marine ecology," said Sirachai.
"The latter type may not be pretty but it reflects the reality of what's going on down there. I believe both styles are equally important. You need beauty to make people fall in love with the sea, and you need realistic pictures that raise people's awareness."
In the thriving scene of marine conservation, Sirachai is an up-and-coming figure for both his photos and his environmental efforts. His photos shed light on topical issues, particularly unsustainable fishing that's destroying marine ecology. As marine ecology becomes a hot topic due to Thailand's fishing fiasco, as well as scandals about the impact of tourism on underwater scenery, Sirachai has become a familiar figure at seminars, while his photos have appeared in magazines such as National Geographic Thailand and publications by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Sirachai's images are all about realistic impact -- a fleshy swarm of fish caught in a trawling net, a beached sting ray -- and not every one of them may appeal to a general audience.
"Sometimes, there's a lot of blood in my photos. And in some photos, there are just people," says Sirachai, who prefers to consider his images photojournalism.
Last year, he captured a scene of decaying coral reefs around Koh Ta Chai, a popular scuba-diving site in Mu Koh Similan National Park in the Andaman Sea. The pictures stirred a debate and alerted the whole country to the impact of tourism on coral reefs. (Last month, the Department of Natural Parks finally closed Koh Ta Chai to tourism, with no set date of reopening.) Sirachai's favourite photo, however, is an image of fish caught by trawling. Sirachai had to jump inside the fishing net to take that photo.
"It was like another world. The trawling net was as large as many football fields and was full of fish, everywhere, large and small."
He may be working for a serious cause, but his passion starts with beauty. As a young boy, he fell in love with the ocean after looking at breathtaking underwater photos taken by famous photographers such as Nat Sumannatemeya. Sirachai took a scuba diving class and it took no time for the city boy to immerse himself in the spell of the sea.
"I heard my heart beat when I saw a shark for the first time," he says of a teenage experience. After that, scuba diving and marine nature became his passion. He studied ecology instead of medicine, the subject he previously intended to pursue. He received a bachelor's degree in environmental management from Mahidol University. Currently he is doing his masters thesis at Prince Songkla University. His subject is sharks, the bewildering creature that's top predator in marine ecology's food chain.
Sharks cause so much fear, Sirachai said, perhaps because of the myth perpetuated by movies. But in reality sharks are prey, not predator, and are on the verge of becoming endangered. It is estimated that 100-200 million sharks have been caught to supply shark-fin soup to restaurants.
Thailand, says Sirachai, is one of top exporters of shark products.
"Our fisheries might not catch sharks just for their fins, but fishing boats often use destructive fishing gear such as fine-mesh push nets to catch fish indiscriminately. As a result, small sharks -- which should be left to reproduce -- are caught. Every part of the shark is used as fillet, or for making sun-dried fish.
"That is so wasteful. Sharks are the top predators in the marine food chain, and they help keep the population of other fish balanced. Now their population has decreased rapidly because they're not allowed to reproduce much."
Sirachai has spent the past few years collecting data on shark catches and measuring the size of caught sharks. "They're getting smaller and smaller," he said.
But sharks are just one of the problems. For a number of years, Sirachai has been protesting the practice of destructive fishing, even before the European Union flagged Thailand's seafood industry over environmental concerns. As a young student, Sirachai joined a protest against massive, irresponsible fishing.
"But no one paid attention then. The Thai fishing industry is a classic example of an inconvenient truth. Everyone knows that the practice is unsustainable but no one wants to rock the boat because it's a big business."
Conservationists in Thailand has been calling for a ban on destructive fishing gear for a number of years, but have only gotten a cold shoulder from authorities. Fishing boats use trawling with a fine mesh that allows them to catch more fish, yet the small diameter entraps small fish that should be left in the sea to grow and breed. Those small fish are sought after as ingredients for feedstock, a billion-baht industry.
So Sirachai turns to art as a medium for calling attention to the problem. "Today people usually get information from social media. They are attracted to photos or other visual media. I let my photos speak for themselves."
And his photos speak volumes -- the incident around Koh Ta Chai was a prime example of how pictures, besides telling a thousand words, can rally an awareness that produces genuine consequences.
But again, it's when he takes photos of fish in peril that Sirachai feels most alive. He was surprised, however, to find that the most haunting shot he took of fish caught in a trawling was accompanied by something even more traumatic: the sound of a fish trying to get away from the net. It was a voice he can never forget.
"It echoed, it was so loud. All I can think is that it sounds like the voice of praying."
Dead coral around Koh Ta Chai
