WP3 & 5 IDS, WP4 Sampling, WP7 tests & WP9 Posters

The In-Depth Surveys for WPs3 & 5 are on-going, with those in Chachoengsao, Nakhon Pathom and Surat Thani already completed. Remaining IDS will be for Chanthaburi (WP3 only, WP5 already completed), Suphanburi (WP3&5), and other South (WP3&5).

With the completion of WP6&7 IDS, the next activities for WP7 are the toxicity tests and microcosm, which have already started with both indoor (lab) and outdoor facilities on campus.

The first batch of sampling for WP4 on Environmental Modeling was carried out from 3 to 9 March 2012, with shrimp farms in Chanthaburi and Chachoengsao, and tilapia farms in Chachoengsao and Nakhon Pathom. The samples taken were water from inlet, outlet, storage and culture ponds, sediment from culture pond, and feed used. As SOP for recording purposes, some water quality parameters were also measured at site, namely DO, temperature, pH and salinity at each collection point. GPS coordinates were also noted, along with time of collection. As to weather condition, there was just one observation: it was very hot and sunny!

Water samples have been sent to a lab for analysis, whereas the soil samples will be processed and dried and sent to UoS for analysis, together with the feed samples.

The value chain posters were also given out to the farms as well as to key informants for distribution. Telephone surveys will be conducted to assess poster impact as part of WP9 action research. The immediate impact survey could not be conducted in the field as it was not convenient to do so given the work to be done for WP4 sample collection.

All photos by Jigsz