"The village was founded especially to serve our main occupation, fishing, since before the dam came. Only a few people here collected things from the forest to earn extra income. Due to the hilly geography here, we could farm only along the banks of the Moon River and along the creeks. Growing rice by direct seeding could only be done in the forest reserves. Most of the people hired for farmwork were migrants from Lao. These people from Lao also got hired outside the area during the off-season for fishing. But the locals in Tha Phae were reluctant to find fishing jobs elsewhere. The nearby rapids and boulders at the mouth of the Moon River provided a rich habitat for fish and for them, fishing during the fishing season generates enough income to live by."

These few sentences by Janphen Chaisat, a 41 year old villager from Tha Phae village, Tambon Khong Chiam, Khong Chiam district, Ubon Ratchathani province are quite illustrative of the typical livelihood of communities around the Pak Moon Dam. They give us very clear picture, even clearer than reading PhD dissertations on the subject. The flow of words, from her deep pain, out of the losers' aching hearts, reflected the undeniable truth.

Their care and understanding of the rich natural environment and their steadfast practice of self-reliant livelihoods has allowed the villagers to protect and maintain nature for a long time...perhaps until their last breath.

Tha Phae village was formerly known as Non Hin Hae (Hin Hae means ‘earth teeming with rocks'). From here, looking toward the Mekhong River, the Hia Hae hill will be on your right. The village split from Dan Kao village, Moo 1, Tambon Khong Chiam, which is situated on the opposite bank of the river. Tha Phae is downstream from the Pak Moon Dam.

During the early days of the village in the 1950's, there were only ten families here, including the families of Mr. Khamphun Son-at, Mr. Chai Wongla, Mr. Soem Pathumma, Mr. Thong Phasuk, Mr. Bua Lalak, Mr. Sao Wonglak, Mr. Thiang Chaisat, Mr. Promma Mankhong, and Mr. Liam Thongkam. They chose to settle along the Moon River between the mouth and the Kaeng Tana rapids.

Known as a rich habitat of fish, Kaeng Tana magnetically drew a lot of people, not just from the Ubon Ratchathani and Sri Sa Ket provinces, but even from Lao. They flocked here as if they were fleeing wars.

In the past, the fisher folk came to fish here only during the fishing season when the fish virtually "floated" for them to catch from May-August. Then, they set up small makeshift shelters around Kaeng Tana and toward the end of the season, they started to pull out and return to their homes. As time went by, instead of commuting here every year for fishing, groups of fisher folk settled here permanently and formed communities, including Tha Phae.

The name Tha Phae¹ was chosen since the area served as the pier for motorized rafts that ran between Tha Phae and Dan Kao villages. Since the village was set up for fishing, the houses were mostly lined up along the bank of the river. With more people, the area soon became crowded. The big floods in 1972 prompted a lot of people to move inland to settle on the current site closer to the road. And in 1993, another group of people from Dan Kao village on the other side of the river moved here to increase the population of Tha Phae village.

As a rich source of fish, local people in Tha Phae were familiar with the saying that "for Tha Phae people, three months' fishing earns enough for the whole year, plus money to send the children to school". Everyone in Tha Phae village is so proud of that saying. Though a little bit exaggerated, there is a lot of truth in it.

Their pride did not last long. Suddenly, the government pushed forward the Pak Moon Dam Hydropower Project. This has turned things upside down; of their pride, only sarcasm remains. The post-dam situation is exactly the opposite of the past. The saying they used to proud of has now become just a myth, an incredible tale that could only convince children.

No one falls for the belief!

The resolution to approve the construction of Pak Moon Dam was made on 15 May 1990 and the construction was rushed just like fast food. From approval in May 1990, construction was complete in November 1994. It took only 4.5 years to prop up this huge cement wall dominating the river that used to be the communication route for local villagers. The total cost was 6.6 billion baht.

Since then, livelihood of small communities along the Moon River has changed, unfortunately for the worse!!

Fishing here has depended on local wisdom passed down from generation to generation about the seasons and the nature of the river. The local people's knowledge about river tides, behavioural changes of the fish in different seasons, etc., suddenly became worthless with the imposition of the dam that completely altered the course of the river and obstructed fish migration.

The red water season (May-June) starts during the early rainy season. During this time, more water begins to flow and flush down mud which makes the river look muddy and hence the name "red-brown" river. It is the period that the villagers enjoy the best catch all year. Various kinds of fishing gear, including Lan, Lob, Toom Playon, and Mong of 12-18 cm, and fishing lines, etc. are employed to catch fish migrating from the Mekhong into the Moon River, including pla itu.

Here is the unwritten rich wisdom of fishing owned by villagers in Tha Phae. Now it has turned into meaningless trash flushed away by the gushing stream that hits the Pak Moon Dam's wall. It is flowing into an abyss. This notion should be noted at least by the next generation...When the sky changes color, the river will be owned by the villagers again.

During the flood period (August-November), the water stays at the brim and becomes quite torrential. At this time, the villagers avoid catching fish in the river itself. Instead, they fish in the tributaries and flooded forests using Lan and Lob as their fishing gear. During this time, the fish that have migrated into the Moon River start to return to the bigger habitat of the Mekhong again.

During the low season (November-January), the water in the Moon River becomes a quite transparent blue. Now they can use Mong of 5-6 cm to catch both small and big fish including pla khang wang, meaning fish from the Mekhong which have not yet returned to their place of origin.

During the dry season (January-April) when the water recedes to its lowest, the villagers use small-size Mong (3-16 cm) and fishing lines to catch smaller fish.

Changes in the community only became obvious after the completion of the dam, but in fact problems began even during the construction period. The muddy water during May turned much muddier due to the cement debris from the dam construction site. It caused itching among the villagers who went to fish in the river. Yet they had to continue fishing since it was their only source of income.

"We used to see big schools of pla kam around the rapids just like what we saw in fish culture cages, but now they are no longer there. From fishing just three months to feed the family for the whole year, now we have to spend more time fishing" recalled Pho Thongjan Busabong, a 77 year old villager at the beginning of the tragedy.

During the closure of the dam sluice gates in the first two years, villagers from Tha Phae who used to catch fish behind the dam, where EGAT (the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand) lets the water run the turbines, found an increase in fish there. But "catching fish behind the dam is not easy. Many villagers from Hua Hew already occupied the area. Villagers from Tha Phae were not welcome".

Another major obstacle for the fisher folk of Tha Phae is the risk of losing their fishing gear. EGAT gives no prior warning for the opening or closing of the dam sluice gates. If the dam gates are suddenly flung open, the torrent of water will simply wash away their gear. Also, since the rapids that used to help slow the water flow have been blasted away, the water currents can become unbelievably strong. Not only was fishing gear lost, but even whole boats could be pulled down to the turbines.

Yet, the villagers had to risk fishing behind the dam. It's better than having no place to fish. They could manage to fish there only for the first two years and then they could no longer find any fish. This came as no surprise to the fish experts like the fisher folk at Tha Phae. They know fish behaviour well enough to understand that the fish no longer swam here because they had already learned that even though they managed to swim this far, they could go no further because of the dam.

After the closure of the dam gates, the villagers had to find ways to make ends meet. Some went to work as hired labour; other headed home to farm. But they had so little land to till since much of the land is rocky as the former name of the village suggests (Hin Hae or "full of rocks").

The major motive for moving to Tha Phae was of course the fishing, and thus it became their main occupation, whereas rice farming was only a way to help reduce domestic expenses. Their rice output was barely enough even for their own consumption.

Those with no land to till had to migrate to Bangkok to find jobs while other families which had relatives in Phetchaburi and Kanchanaburi went there to get hired to cut sugar cane. Young people and family breadwinners liked to find jobs in Bangkok whereas those who worked in the sugar cane fields went down with their families. So they had to move their children to new schools there, and after the season, they had to move back their children to the same old schools. This would affect the quality of education one way or another.

However, cutting sugar cane might not earn them wages worth their struggle. It was just enough to keep them going from day to day. One good thing about it was they could ask for an advance to buy food after which they had to work harder to repay their debts. Once the debt was paid off, the sugar cane harvest was over and they had to head back home empty-handed!!!

One solution for them was to ask for an advance on the next harvest. Then next year, when they were there again, they worked just to repay their debts. This happened endlessly year after year.

Once the debt spiralled, the new ones and the old ones got entangled, and they had to work even harder to pay them off. However hard they worked, they still needed to ask for an advance on next year's harvest, and had to face the difficulty ahead of earning enough to pay yet more debt.

On 25 July 2000, the cabinet agreed to the proposal by the Independent Committee to Solve Pak Moon Dam Problems for a trial opening of the dam sluice gates for four months from July to October. Even though the opening of the dam gates epitomized the wish of the villagers, in the beginning fisher folk at Tha Phae still could not manage to catch much. The water turned very torrential because the rapids had been all blasted away. Also, the water course was deeper and had changed from its original course. The Tha Phae folk had to wait until November, when water receded, to catch fish.

Even though fish were there to catch, they simply had to look at them and could do nothing. A lot of their fishing gear had been washed away during the time the dam gates were closed and opened with no warning. To invest in new gear is quite costly for the fisher folk on the Moon River. It means tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of baht for them. Some needed to buy new boats and had to tap into money from the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC). They needed some assurance that the cabinet resolution would not be twisted in the near future and that the investment was worth their being trapped further debt.

And even with the cabinet resolution ordering the opening of the dam sluice gates, EGAT was reluctant to implement the order right away. They acted only after mass demonstrations and pressure.

Those who went to work outside their communities had to keep asking their fellow villagers at home how long the dam gates would be open. This would be the factor that brought them back home. Without enough confidence, they would not risk resigning from their jobs. At that time no one was sure enough to give a definite answer to the question.

And their fears were realized. 11 further cabinet resolutions were quite inconsistent with each other. This has led to no certainty regarding the long-term opening of the dam sluice gates.

This year (2007) the confusion continues. The village folk who have invested in the purchase of new fishing gear look very gloomy. On 29 May, the cabinet installed by the army agreed to "start opening the dam sluice gates on 7 June with a full opening on 17 June 2007".

Sound nice enough? The smoke had not yet settled when, on 12 June, the very same cabinet passed another solution to "approve the maintenance of the water level of the Pak Moon Dam at 106-108 meters MSL. There is no fixed schedule as to when the dam sluice gates should be opened or closed. The timing can be adjusted according to the changing environment". In other words, the cabinet agreed to the "indefinite closure of the dam sluice gates" (since the normal water level in the reservoir is at the assigned level).

The village folk in Tha Phae used to be able to stand on their own. They could manage various aspects of their life. They had a deep knowledge of the seasons and fish behaviour, and were skilled enough in the making and use of various fishing gear. The Moon River was the foundation for their strong livelihood. But after the Pak Moon Dam was built, the fate of more than 600 lives depended on inconsistent cabinet resolutions swayed by the hidden agenda of various influential parties. Only those who have to live and die by the Moon River have had no stake in the very fateful decision making.

Life of the Tha Phae folk depends on the eight dam sluice gates. And as the fate of these gates is uncertain, so as the fate of these village folk!!

Editor's note: Tha Phae means ‘raft landing'

Translated by Pipob Udomittipong