Suthep Kritsanavarin, Thailand,
– First prize of the Xishuangbanna’s festival for a foreign photographer
Siphandon Mekong Fishing Under Threats
“The Mekong, the “Mother of Rivers” is a vast ecosystem stemming from the source river towards tributaries, streams, swamps, flood plains, and deltas. Much of this bionetwork functions as rearing and spawning areas or migration corridors between these critical zones. Among the world’s most diverse fisheries systems, the Mekong is home to more than one thousand species of freshwater fish.
Local communities in the river basin, particularly those downriver, rely on fish as their major source of protein. Yet Mekong fisheries are at risk of depletion due to rapid industrialization and an expanding human population. Proposed mega infrastructure projects such as hydroelectric dams may alter annual cycles of flooding and fish migration in the river and its tributaries.
Swimming north through a stretch of the Mekong is the giant catfish, the world’s largest indigenous freshwater fish weighing up to 300 kilos. This remarkable species migrates north from the Tonle Sap in Cambodia to the Siphandon or Four Thousand Islands in southern Laos and onwards to Thailand. The Irrawaddy Dolphin, flagged as an endangered species on IUCN red list also travel these majestic waters.
My documentary is focused on the Mekong’s unique wildlife and human inhabitants; the endangered species thrashing their way up and down stream and the people who risk their lives in a daily struggle to net their catch.
During the three years I’ve been photographing life along the lower Mekong region, I’ve observed how unchecked development and the lack of conservation threatens small fishermen’s livelihood and traditional ways of life. The project is guided both by academic research as well as direct experience with the villagers of Siphandon and the lower Mekong basin in Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. Documentary projects demand dedication in order to approach the subject with any depth. I’ve used every opportunity to make frequent trips to the basin, documenting the cycles of life and migration that change with the seasons.”
Suthep Kritsanavarin is one of Thailand’s leading photojournalists. His award-winning work has been published internationally in: the New York Times, International Herald Tribune, National Geographic Thailand, Geographical, Aera and Japan Times. Suthep has covered environmental, social and humanitarian issues in Southeast Asia for nearly two decades.
Suthep’s work is based on his firm belief that a photojournalist must act as a conscientious observer of society and culture.
In 2008 Suthep received the Days Japan International Photojournalism Award and was selected for the Best of Photojournalism award from the US-based National Press Photographers Association. His Mekong photo documentary was awarded a grant by the Blue Earth Alliance. After the 2004 Asian Tsunami, Suthep co-founded and worked as the Photo Director of InSIGHT Out! Photography Project. The project teaches children to document their lives through photography in tsunami-affected areas in Banda Aceh, Indonesia and Phang Nga Thailand. He is only the Asian Tutor for young Asian Photographers at the Angkor Photography Festival.
Suthep has exhibited his documentary photography in Thailand, Cambodia, China, Japan, Germany and France including; Siphadon Mekong Fishing Under Threat, Kuay and Elephants: Struggling for Survival, Life in Xinjiang, China and Hunters and Monk in Thailand.
Floris de Bonneville
