Krabi Economy

EARLY SURVIVAL
Archaeological research revealing human and animal bones, tombs, stone age tools and campfire activity, suggest that Krabi was a home to cave men, 27,000 to 37,000 years ago. Man’s methods of survival changed over the course of time from hunting and gathering to animal rearing, 3,000 to 5,000 years ago.

EARLY PRODUCTS
Products traded in Krabi’s early sea port included horns, animal bones, herbs, peppers, aloes and wood. With the development of agricultural techniques came the yield of a greater quantity of products for trade, such as fruit, rubber, palm oil and coff

FISHING
is acknowledged as the original occupation of Krabi people , as still practiced by the Chao Ley sea gypsies. Selling the fish they catch from the sea day by day in a hand-to-mouth existence, they have continued little unchanged to the present day. Other more modern forms of fishing have been developed by Muslim Thais, including more effective but also more destructive trawlers.

INDUSTRY
Directly related to regional agriculture, local factories today are concerned mainly with the processing of rubber, palm oil and seafood.

TOURISM
Krabi was officially recognized as a tourist destination by the Thai government in 1985, with the declaration of forty-eight natural sites and two historical sites.

WISDOM OF THE SEA
Krabi’s fishermen of long ago learned and taught a great deal about the sea, which influenced many of the present generation’s regular fishing practices, e.g. a) Never step on the head of the boat. b) Pay respects to Mae Ya Nang (a boat spirit) before going out fishing. c) Pray to Khun Nam (a spirit of the sea), believed to protect marine life. d) Release for breeding any big fish, which have been accidentally caught.

LOCAL BELIEFS
Problem solving for one’s self and for one’s community demands critical thinking, knowledge and intelligence. It is  unfortunate that some of the lessons handed down as community resources have been forgotten through lack of neccessity or regular use. There are also many recognized phenomena encountered at sea, whose meanings are explained by local fishermen as follows :-

WHALES AND DOLPHINS
A school of whales or dolphins sighted at the water’s surface indicates the coming of a storm within one or two days.
RAYS
A ray jumping over the water’s surface is a sign that the weather conditions will change to become windy and rough.

TEXT SOURCE : KRABI TOURIST ASSOCIATION