POLICY BRIEF: "Protecting the Customary Rights and Way of Life in Thailand’s Small-scale Fishery Communities"

Publication date:
July 2025

Publication: 
Protecting the Customary Rights and Way of Life in Thailand’s Small-scale Fishery Communities

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Authors: Jiao Xiaofang, Ravadee Prasertcharoensuk, Varuntorn Kaewtankam

Small-scale fishery (SSF) communities in Thailand play a vital ecological and social role but face mounting threats due to overlapping laws, unclear tenure, and rising economic pressures. This research draws on participatory video and fieldwork conducted in Ban Yaimom village, where residents helped document their histories, spatial practices, and legal struggles. The project reveals how housing insecurity is deepening social and economic inequality, especially for women and low-income families, while administrative contradictions expose communities to eviction. Despite policy frameworks that nominally protect traditional settlements, implementation remains fragmented and exclusionary. By using video as both method and message, the research shows how communities can make their “invisible rights” visible asserting customary claims and collective knowledge in the face of legal erasure. The findings call for legal harmonization, recognition of customary housing right, and more inclusive governance mechanisms to protect the right to stay and sustain coastal ways of life.