State of the System (SOS) Workshop conducted in Thailand

ภาษาไทย

The SOS Workshop of the SEAT Project in Thailand was conducted on 25 May 2011 at KP Grand Chanthaburi Hotel, Amphur Muang, Chanthaburi Province. This is the last of a series of SOS workshops which began in Bangladesh in March, China in April, Vietnam in mid-May, and now Thailand.

The workshop was attended by a diverse group of aquaculture stakeholders along the shrimp and tilapia value chains. The participants came mainly from the provinces of Chanthaburi (shrimp) and Chachoengsao (tilapia). The stakeholder groups represented included shrimp and tilapia producers, input/service providers, shrimp and nursery operators, processors and exporters and institutions (university, NGO). The whole SEAT-KU project team led by Dr. Kriengkrai Satapornvanit were there along with the SEAT team members from the University of Stirling (Prof David Little, Dr Francis Murray, Douglas Waley), University of Bergen (Prof Matthias Kaiser), Bangladesh Agricultural University (M.M. Haque/Ripon), Can Tho University (Lam Phan Thanh) and Shanghai Ocean University (Wenbo Zhang).

The main objectives of the workshop were:

• To make the knowledge generated during the early stages of the project available to those involved in its development (the stakeholders themselves);
• To clarify and verify the information collected; and,
• To understand stakeholder ideas and perceptions regarding future challenges and opportunities, and how the changes in them will be measured over time.

To achieve the above objectives the workshop had various activities such as presentation of project outcomes featuring highlights of the scoping and integrated surveys, presentation of European consumer attitudes and trends, an individual exercise on sustainability factors, group discussions related to questions arising from the results and ways to measure sustainability indicators and changes, and critiquing/commenting of group outputs by the participants themselves.

Workshop outputs will include a final report in both English and Thai, information posters on the sustainability of value chains of shrimp and tilapia in both English and Thai, and a documentation of the process of the SOS workshop.

The SOS Workshop consisted of the following activities and topics: 

Morning ช่วงเช้า

Participant registration tea/coffee & Exercise I (Individual Sustainability Questionnaires)

ลงทะเบียน และ อาหารว่าง ชา/กาแฟ และมีการตอบคำถามในแบบสอบถามเกี่ยวกับความยั่งยืน (ได้รับพร้อมกับการลงทะเบียน)

Welcome & introductions – Prof David Little & Dr Kriengkrai Satapornvanit

กล่าวยินดีต้อนรับและการแนะนำผู้ร่วมประชุมเป็นแต่ละกลุ่ม ๆ ไม่เน้นบุคคล

Objectives of the workshop, Introduction to project and project activities – Dr Kriengkrai S.

นำเสนอวัตถุประสงค์ของการประชุมเชิงปฏิบัติการและเบื้องต้นเกี่ยวกับโครงการ และจกรมของโครงการฯ

Overview of outcomes over the first year of the project

นำเสนอผลภาพรวมของการทำงานในปีแรกของโครงการ

Part 1: Systems overview – Dr Kulapa Kuldilok

      นำเสนอภาพรวมของระบบต่างที่เกี่ยวข้องจากช่วงปีที่ผ่านมา

Part 2: Main findings from integrated survey – Dr Kriengkrai S.

นำเสนอสรุปประเด็นสำคัญจากการสำรวจแบบบูรณาการ

Focus Group Activity 1: Clarifying key issues emerging from work so far

กิจกรรมการสนทนาช่วงที่ 1: นำเสนอประเด็นสำคัญที่ต้องชี้แจ้ง และคำถามจากผู้ร่วมสัมมนาจากประเด็นข้างต้น (สองประเด็น)

Focus Group Activity 2: Perspectives on your current situation

กิจกรรมการสนทนาช่วงที่ 2: มุมมองต่อสถานการณ์ในปัจจุบันของท่าน

Afternoon: Moving the industry forward 

บ่าย : มองอุตสาหกรรมไปข้างหน้า 

Presentation by Prof David Little (with Dr Kriengkrai): Seafood in Europe: what happens to your product?
ซีฟู้ดในยุโรป: จะเกิดอะไรขึ้นกับผลิตภัณฑ์ของท่าน ?

Slide showing: Aquaculture systems in Bangladesh, China, Thailand and Vietnam

Focus Group Activity 3: Working together to improve and move the industry forward

กิจกรรมการสนทนาช่วงที่ 3: การทำงานร่วมกันเพื่อปรับปรุงและขับเคลื่อนอุตสาหกรรมไปข้างหน้า

Wrap-up/closing/thanks    สรุป/ในงานพิธีปิด/ขอบคุณ

Group photo  กลุ่มถ่ายภาพ   

Souvenirs ของที่ระลึก

A feedback form will be sent to the participants in the coming weeks to determine reactions and learnings from the workshop. We thank everyone who took the time to participate in the workshop and share their opinions and comments. We are looking forward to further collaboration with you. 

Photo credit: Wenbo Zhang

Photo credit: Wenbo Zhang

Photo credit: Wenbo Zhang

Note: Photos by ANS unless otherwise stated.

Activity updates

SEAT-KU team represented by Dr Kriengkrai and Ms Arlene attended the Asian Fisheries and Aquaculture Forum held at Shanghai Ocean University last 20-24 April. A number of partners from other WPs were also present. While there Arlene presented a paper on "Developing sustainability indicators for shrimp and tilapia aquaculture in Thailand". This is part of the SEAT research project and especially for her PhD research work. We attended a number of sessions in the conference, and also browsed some of the posters and exhibition booths. We also attended the special session organised by SEAT and ASEM, wherein both projects presented their work and gave specific examples relevant to Asia. It was a well attended session and created genuine interest from the audience who wanted to know what projects like these are doing to better the linkages between Europe and Asia re: aquaculture.

SOU President Prof Yingjie Pan, Dr Liu Liping (SEAT-SOU PI), Dr Kriengkrai after SEAT breakfast meeting

After AFAF, the SEAT-SOU China conducted the State of the System Workshop in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province on 27 April. SEAT-KU and SEAT-CTU (Vietnam) joined the China team during 25-30 April and assisted and observed the pre-workshop, actual workshop and post-workshop activities. It was a great learning experience for us so we can have orientation on how to conduct our in-country SOS workshops this May.

A couple of days later were spent with PhD Stirling group for initial refinement of database info and analysis and to prepare for the PhD Stirling Workshop in May in Thailand.

Locally, in Thailand, the SEAT-KU field team were also busy preparing for the field work for WP5 & 8. Led by Ms Wanwichanee, the team were able to contact respondents and key informants for the WP5 livelihoods surveys and WP8 ethical framework interviews. Since 26 April, the field team together with a researcher each from WP5 and WP8  have been to Nakhon Pathom, Chachoengsao and Chanthaburi to meet with key informants and conduct focus group discussions related to each work package. Two field staff per WP (Mink & Fonn for WP5, Vi & Tong for WP8) are assigned to assist in translation and related field work.

Meanwhile, another staff in the office (Deaw) backstops for contacting and confirming meetings with respondents for the above field work. At the same time, he assists Dr Key and Ms Arlene in the logistical preparations for SOS workshop, mainly getting confirmations from invited participants. Other work related to preparation of SOS are being handled by this three due to lack of staff as they are in the field.

WP7 with 2 researchers from WUR is continuing, assisted by another Thai RA, Ms Jugk. They left today to the field site for 7 days continuous monitoring.

Another staff has been designated to conduct more work related to wholesale markets as there is really no documentation on this. The agency mandated to collect information on this has been contacted but theyu do not have any information to give, and even requested us to provide any info we gathered from the field to them for their records.

Thailand again has a long weekend holiday, from tomorrow until Tuesday. This is good for our field staff to have a rest after a hectic time in the field, and to have refreshment before facing the weeks ahead for the SOS workshop. However for a few of us, we will continue working despite the holiday, as there is still lots to do especially on data analysis, presentations and workshop content. And they all need to be translated into Thai.