II(O)_013

The 3rd EnvironmentAsia International Conference on

“Towards International Collaboration for an Environmentally Sustainable World”
Thai Society of Higher Education Institutes on Environment June 17-19, 2015, Montien Riverside Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand

Environmental Impacts from Boat Excursions at Bueng Borapet Wetland,

Nakhon Sawan Province, Thailand

Noppamast Sae-Tanga, Sansanee Choowaewa, Ramesh Boonratanab and Utaiwan Phutedc

a
Faculty of Environment and Resources Studies, Mahidol University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
b
Mahidol University International College, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
c
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nakhon Sawan Rajabhat University, Nakhon Sawan, Thailand

Abstract

All wetland ecosystems are susceptible to tourism activities among others, albeit to a lesser or greater
degree, depending on the nature and types of the threats, and depending on the wetland type. With this in mind,
a study was carried to examine the environmental impacts from boat excursions on a freshwater wetland, the
Bueng Borapet Wetland in Nakhon Sawan Province, Thailand. The Bueng Borapet Wetland, measuring 212.38
km2, is the largest freshwater swamp and lake in Thailand, and is a renowned destination for viewing waterbirds.
This study employed participatory observations and in-depth interviews with 12 key informants. The
interviewees were pre-determined using purposive sampling, and included the local boat service providers,
officers from the relevant local government agencies, and academicians associated with the wetland and its
environs. The interviews were carried out from August to October 2014, and the results were analyzed using
content analysis. The results showed that boat excursions negatively impacted the wetland ecosystem in a
number of ways. The waterbirds were particularly severely disturbed by the loud engine noise of the tourist
boats, and by the disruptive behavior of some visitors. In addition, waves generated by speeding boats
frequently damaged the birds’ nests and the eggs therein. Based on the observations and findings of this study, it
is recommended that appropriate conservation awareness and training on environmentally responsible practices
be delivered to the boat operators to maintain the integrity of both the wetland and the waterbirds, besides
ensuring sustainable incomes of the stakeholder communities.

Keywords: Boat excursion; Environmental impact; Freshwater wetland; Tourism; Waterbirds

1. Introduction

1.1 Bueng Borapet Wetland and its tourism

Bueng Borapet is the largest freshwater swamp and lake in Thailand. It has an area of about 212
km2 covering three districts of Nakhon Sawan Province, comprising Muang, Choomsang and Tadako
districts. Bueng Borapet possess a highly diversified ecosystem, in particular its wetland ecosystem is
rich in biodiversity comprising 23 aquatic plant species, 77 freshwater fish species, 63 local bird
species and 32 migrant bird species (Choowaew et al., 2014). The Bueng Borapet Wetland is one of
several popular natural attractions in Thailand. Its natural tourism resources include its landscape, and
flora and fauna such as water lily, lotus, bladderwort, bulrush, local and migrant birds, fish species,
etc. These resources attract both domestic and international visitors, particularly, as bird-watching
destination. Since the Bueng Borapet Wetland was promoted as a tourism destination, the number of
visitors have been gradually increasing from 57,090 visitors in 2006 to 180,905 in 2012 (Office of
Bueng Borapet Non-hunting Area, n.d. and Nakhon Sawan Provincial Administrative Office, n.d.).
There are boat excursions provided by local people that allow visitors to visit and have an
opportunity to learn about these natural attractions. Currently, there are two major boat routes for the
boat excursions (Tourism Authority of Thailand, n.d.) accessible from three piers, located at Bueng
Borapet Non-hunting Area, Provincial Administrative Organization (PAO), and the Inland Fisheries
Research and Development (IFRD). The PAO and IFRD piers, which are close to each other, are
located to the west of the wetland. They share the same route which takes about an hour. There are
four stopovers along the route: (1) Wat and Smith Islands, habitat to waterbirds; (2) lotus field and
other aquatic plants; (3) a sand bar, habitat to mash birds; (4) lake core area. The pier at Bueng
Borapet Wildlife Non-hunting Area is located to the south of the wetland. A major boat excursion
takes about one hour with four major stop points (1) land recreation view; (2) floating plant area, a

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 II(O)_013
The 3rd EnvironmentAsia International Conference on
“Towards International Collaboration for an Environmentally Sustainable World”
Thai Society of Higher Education Institutes on Environment June 17-19, 2015, Montien Riverside Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand

waterbird habitat; (3) Taseng Cape, a forest and habitat to migrant birds; (4) Na Cape, key site for the
Asian Openbill.
In addition, visitors can request a different boat route for a mutually agreeable service fee.
Activities associated with boat excursions include photography, bird-watching, viewing local lifestyle,
and learning about the ecosystem.

Figure 1. Map of Bueng Borapet Wetland, Nakhon Sawan Province, Thailand (Modified from Chairat, 2010)

1.2 Environmental impacts from boat excursion

As this research focuses on tourism activities associated with boat excursions in the wetland
which uses the water as a source of transportation and for its unique environment, the environmental
impacts on the water source will be clarified. The environmental impacts are classified into positive
and negative impacts; the positive impacts comprise appreciation of sustainable use of the aquatic
environment and tourism activities which contribute to the resource conservation. The negative
impacts include the changes in water quality, air pollution (mainly referring to fumes from the boat
engines), disturbance to the local ecology and biodiversity, impacts to the ecology from construction
tourism facilities, discharge of sewage, sound pollution, increased water turbidity, impacts from
propellers to the aquatic vegetation and river or lake bottoms, algal growths, bank erosion, and loss of
plants.
The wetland ecosystem is fragile and vulnerable to have human activities; therefore this research
focuses on environmental impacts from boat excursion to determine the impacts at the Bueng Borapet
Wetland, to assist in planning for sustainable tourism use.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1 Materials

Key Question Designs

Prior to designing the research tools, particularly in creating key questions, secondary data were
collected, literature from relevant documents, internet websites, reports, research and studies were
reviewed, which assisted. To fulfill, the purpose of this study, key open-ended questions for each
group of key informants were prepared. This allowed useful and up-to-date information to be gained,
in addition to the information obtained from their view of existing documents and studies. In addition,

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The 3rd EnvironmentAsia International Conference on
“Towards International Collaboration for an Environmentally Sustainable World”
Thai Society of Higher Education Institutes on Environment June 17-19, 2015, Montien Riverside Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand

it also assisted in verifying the information provided, as well as it allowed for observation of the
interviewees’ responses and the environment (Panthai, 1980; Babbie, 2007).
Besides profiling questions, key questions for the respondents comprising local government
officers, boat service providers and specialists relate to boat excursions, attractions, tourism impacts
from boat excursion, visitors and safety. Profiling questions to the boat service providers revealed
their work experiences, some indication of their boat driving skills, and the delivery of their services.
The background information will show work experiences, some boat driving skills of boat service
providers, and how they provide service.
All the key questions were examined, assessed and approved by Mahidol University’s- Central
Institutional Review Board before the in-depth interviews were carried out.

2.2 Methods

Data Collection
This research was carried out from August to October 2014 using in-depth interviews with 12
key informants. According to Panthai (2002), nine to ten samples for data collection are sufficiently
reliable and accurate when applying purposive sampling and using key questions for an interview.
The respondents from three groups of key informants comprised the following:
Four officers, one each from the Bueng Borapet Non-hunting Area, Bueng Borapet Natural and
Wildlife Study Center, Bueng Borapet Wildlife Research Station, and Bueng Borapet Freshwater
Fisheries Development Center. All the officers had more than five year experience working at Bueng
Borapet.
Four local boat service providers were obtained by employing the purposive sampling technique,
i.e. by asking the previous key informants to suggest other boat service providers. The boat service
providers that were referred to the most were selected. The final selection of the boat service
providers were based on their work experience of more than five years at Bueng Borapet, as they are
expected to better identify the tourism resources and attractions, and the tourism impacts at Bueng
Borapet.
Four academicians were selected from the Rajabhat Nakhon Sawan University and Mahidol
University, based on their research experience relating to tourism or natural and biodiversity resources
at Bueng Borapet. This was to verify results obtained against prior research findings and observations.
After the in-depth interviews were completed, the responses were compiled and summarized.
Then, the results were analyzed by using content analysis.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1 Results

Tourism attractions in the Bueng Borapet Wetland are primarily natural resources. At present, a
pontoon boat is the only type of boat that is used for tourism purpose (Figure 2). Altogether, there are
14 tourist boats. All the boats are of similar size ranging from 2-2.5 m in width, 8-10 m in length, and
1.8-2.2 m in height. Thirteen of them employ diesel engines, and one employs benzine engine. The
pontoon boats can carry from 10-15 persons. Life jackets are available upon request. During a boat
excursion, visitors can do several activities depending on their preferences and interests, as well as
locations that the boat stop by (Table 1).

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 II(O)_013
The 3rd EnvironmentAsia International Conference on
“Towards International Collaboration for an Environmentally Sustainable World”
Thai Society of Higher Education Institutes on Environment June 17-19, 2015, Montien Riverside Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand

Figure 2. Pontoon boats (tourist boats)

Table 1. Boat-based tourism activities

Water-based tourism activities

Bird watching
Viewing lotus

Viewing local

education and

Picnicking on
Conservation

Photography
Youth camp
& water lily

Nature trail
Location
excursion

life style
Viewing

Outdoor

research
scenery

activity
natural

a boat
Boat

Wat Island   - -  -  -   -
Dr. Smith Island   - -  -  -   -
Taseng Cape      -  -   -
Na Cape   -   - - -   -
Bueng Borapet           
Bird Park

Based on participatory observations and in-depth interviews with 12 key informants, two major
environmental impacts from boat excursions on the Bueng Borapet Wetland were identified. The
majority of the respondents stated that the major impacts were noise and wildlife disturbance, and
other impacts accordingly (Table 2).

Noise and wildlife disturbance

Two officers consider the boat engines as noisy. In addition, four academicians stated that the
engine noise have direct impacts to the waterbirds. However, almost none of the boat service
providers consider noise from the tourist boat engines as impact.
According to the findings of Chansaree et al (2014), the noise levels from the tourist boats at
Bueng Borapet was 52.97+4.89 decibels. With respect to the birds, most birds were easily startled by
the tourist boats, and responded by flying off, giving alarm calls, and jumping. Chansaree et al (2014)
suggested that a suitable noise level should not exceed 45 decibels, and maximum speed of the boats
should be no more than 9 km/hour.
Two officers and three academicians said that boat excursions disturb wildlife, particularly
waterbirds. In addition, the academicians suggested that impacts from the boat excursions could lead
to a possible reduction in the waterbird population. One of boat service providers agreed with this
observation, but the majority did not provide any remarks on tourism impacts on wildlife.
For example, waterbirds such as the Pheasant-tail Jacana lay its eggs on the leaves of the water
lily which float on the water’s surface. The birds’ eggs are damaged by the waves created by the boats’
engines, which resulted in a decline in the waterbird population. Moreover, Chansaree et al (2014)
suggested to maintain a safe minimum distance between tourist boats and bird habitat at 260 m.
However, the findings on waterbirds from disturbance by personal watercraft and outboard-powered
boats of Rodgers and Schwikert (2002) suggested that the distance from the vessels to waterbirds
should be 180 m. to minimize the waterbird disturbance.

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The 3rd EnvironmentAsia International Conference on
“Towards International Collaboration for an Environmentally Sustainable World”
Thai Society of Higher Education Institutes on Environment June 17-19, 2015, Montien Riverside Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand

The officers, some boat service providers, and academicians all mentioned the improper behavior
of some visitors while on the boats such as clapping their hands and shouting, frightened the birds into
leaving their nests. In addition, based on the interviews, when the tourist boats approached an island
which was the bird’s habitat and where they brood their eggs, the loud noise of boat engine frightened
the birds causing them to leave their nests. During such occasions, when the nesting bird is frightened
into leaving the nest, the eggs at times drop down from the trees and become broken. In other cases,
they leave the nesting when some tourist boats come too close to the aquatic plants where the birds
are brooding. When the nests are abandoned for a short or longer periods, predators such as the Water
Monitors make use of this opportunity to consume the eggs. These cases correspond to the findings of
Mikola et al (1994) and Parr et al (1996) that showed that nests become more susceptible to predation
due to disturbances.
Other impacts
Other impacts that were mentioned were water quality (refering to oil spill), air pollution, and
waste discharge. Two academicians indicated that boat excursions disturb vegetation when the
propellers of boat engines come in contact and damage the aquatic plants. The others did not mention
that the boat excursion disturbing the aquatic vegetation. However, some plants such as Hydrilla
verticillata and Hymenachne pseudointerrupta multiplied further when were cut by the boat propeller.
Regarding water quality, the previous findings of Choowaew et al (2014) found that the water
quality was in a good standard in a category of type two of the surface water run off of the Pollution
Control Department and the water can be used for aquatic animal conservation, fishery, swimming,
and water sport. Moreover, the number of boat trips per day is quite slight when compared to the size
of the wetland. Based on the interviews with the boat service providers, it was estimated that there are
152 boat trips per month or about one trip per day per boat driver during the high tourism season.
During the low tourism season, there are about nine trips per month. The amount of oil spill and
fumes from the boat exhausts are apparently small in proportion to the number of boat trips.
Furthermore, boat excursions at the Bueng Borapet Wetland require a water level at 2-3 m to operate.
In some years when there was drought, the tourist boats were not able to transport visitors to the
wetland. Waste from visitors are properly disposed in a bin, and the boat service providers usually
request the visitors to bring back any garbage from the boat to the shore. Also, the oil spill from boat
engines do not exceed the carrying capacity of the Bueng Borapet Wetland’s ecosystem which is
based on water quality result of Choowaew et al (2014).
Table 2. Environmental impacts from boat excursion at the Bueng Borapet Wetland

Environmental Negative Impacts

Code
Water Air Noise Soil Waste Vegetation Wildlife
A01 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
A02 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
A03 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
A04 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B01 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B02 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
B03 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B04 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
C01 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
C02 0 0 1 0 0 1 1
C03 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
C04 1 1 1 0 1 1 1
Total 1 1 6 0 1 2 6
Remarks: A refers to officers. B refers to boat service providers. C refers to academicians.
0 refers to non-impact. 1 refers to impact.

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 II(O)_013
The 3rd EnvironmentAsia International Conference on
“Towards International Collaboration for an Environmentally Sustainable World”
Thai Society of Higher Education Institutes on Environment June 17-19, 2015, Montien Riverside Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand

4. Conclusion

In conclusion, the major impacts found were noise and wildlife disturbances. Six of respondents
consider tourist boat engines as a serious form of noise disturbance. Likewise, six respondents agreed
that the boat excursions have some impacts on wildlife, waterbirds in particular. Thus, it is necessary
to plan and manage boat excursions well. Things that should be considered include the size of the
boats, engine types, physical characteristics of the water body, the practices of boat service providers,
suitable waterways or boat routes, appropriate visitor behavior, and development of rules and
regulations for boat excursions to both service providers and the visitors, as all these can lead to either
positive or negative impacts to water ecosystem. In addition, speed and noise measuring devices
should be set up on motorized boats so that the boat service providers can monitor their speed and
noise levels. A non-motorzied boat such as a local rowing boat or canoeing should be considered for
an alternative. In addition, the visitors may use a pair of binoculars to watch birds in the wetland. The
bird-watching would also be more efficient if the boat service providers train the visitors in using
binoculars before leaving the shore. Lastly, based on the observations and findings of this study, it is
recommended that appropriate conservation awareness and training on environmentally responsible
practices should be delivered to the boat operators to maintain the integrity of both the wetland and
the waterbirds, besides ensuring sustainable incomes of the stakeholder communities.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all respondents, boat service providers, officers, and academicians for
providing the primary information for this study. Also, this research is partially supported by the Mahidol
University Alumni Association of the Faculty of Environment and Resource Studies.

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Thai Society of Higher Education Institutes on Environment June 17-19, 2015, Montien Riverside Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand

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