Phuket is considering new regulations to control commercial photo shoots in protected areas after a Chinese couple celebrated their special day by scooping up pretty fish inside a marine national park. Nattha Thepbamrung of The Phuket News has the story.
Photographs show the bride using her wedding gown as a net to hold a number of sergeant-major fish in the Sirinat National Park area . It appears she may also have one of the fish in her hand, though the version of the photo on the Internet is not clear enough to confirm this.
Park chief Kittipat Tharapiban said that pre-wedding photo shoots may not be allowed in parts of national parks in general and should require permission.
“The team is working on it [setting rules]. Nowadays, photo shoots in national parks are becoming a lot more commercial, and we are concerned about the natural environment,” he said. “A crew with loads of equipment and big productions for commercial purposes have to apply to the national park for approval and explain the purposes of the shoot, the shooting locations and the process.”
Assistant Director of National Parks Neramit Songsaeng noted that there are many types of national park land – areas for activities or for service, and pure forest.
“What the department is concerned about is the pure forest land where people are barely allowed to go. These may become a target for photo shoots as they are beautiful and unpolluted,” he said.
“There is an existing regulation covering [visitor activities] in national parks but there probably should be more specific ones,” he said. “However, commercial photo shoots will be considered case by case.”
