Kayaking for Data in Klong Na Kha

While driving around my study area to ground truth shrimp farm locations, Chris and I found a perfect put-in spot for kayaks. We followed a back road that cut through an old abandoned farm to a dilapidated building. The tenant was a cheerful middle-aged man who welcomed us into his ramshackle home. His daughter scurried away with two tiny puppies as we sat cross-legged on the concrete floor and explained the purpose of my project.

Minutes later we had attained the appropriate permission and were rumbling down a rough dirt road in the direction of the mangroves. It was high tide so we only had four hours to paddle out to the inlet and gather GPS data. We wandered through a narrow maze of mangroves, which opened gradually until we were fighting the rising tide in the middle of Klong Na Kha. Immediately we saw a row of aquaculture rafts and developed a system for quantifying and geolocating each one. Chris counted the number of strings (mussels attached) or fish cages while I paddled to the southeast and northwest corner of each raft to enter GPS weigh points. We had to paddle against the current in both directions, since we needed to take advantage of high water levels to get back to the truck. Despite the opposing current, the wind was at our backs the entire way back. I could not help but take this as a good omen for my project.

Green mussels (top) and a grouper cage raft (bottom)