Banner photo © Matt Curnock / Ocean Image Bank

Vachirawit Chivaaree, known to his fans as Bright, is a popular young actor, musician, and model from Thailand. He’s also a committed conservationist and has lent his support to several environmental and other causes, both directly and by encouraging his fans to support charities. 

We were pleasantly surprised when Bright’s United Kingdom-based fan club reached out to Seacology earlier this year and offered their support to our project on Thailand’s Libong Island, in celebration of the actor’s 24th birthday. 

Our project works with the island’s community to protect dugongs, as well as other threatened species native to the area. More than half of the country’s dugong population is found in the waters around Libong Island. Large, gentle marine mammals that graze on seagrass, dugongs are under increasing threat throughout the region due to loss of habitat and food supplies, collisions with boats, and entanglement in fishing nets. Our project addresses these risks by helping the community enforce a 1,000-acre no-take area where the dugongs graze. It also funds the establishment of an interpretive center that will introduce visitors to these fascinating creatures and explain the importance of the seagrass beds that sustain them.

As Bright’s birthday approaches on December 27, the club has raised hundreds of dollars for the project and lent its social media channels to promote the cause of dugong protection. We’re inspired by the passion of both these young people, and by Bright, who is leveraging his success and fame to bring attention to the health of the environment and plight of threatened species.

They are indeed Dugongs, aka seacows. They are vulnerable.

We share Bright’s passion of protecting the sea and animals.

An organisation called @seacology has been empowering locals in Libong Island, Thailand to protect Dugongs and their foodsupply, seagrass.#bbrightvc
(2) pic.twitter.com/xgiiX17Rls

— BrightVC UK Fanclub (@bbrightvc_ukfc) September 28, 2021