THALAE NOI NON-HUNTING  AREA, Thailand

Location:  7°43'-8°00'N, 100°05'-l00°15'E; at the extreme northern end of Lake Songkhla, where the boundaries of the Provinces of Phatthalung, Songkhla and Nakhon Si Thammarat meet.

Description:A roughly circular lake, 5 km by 6 km, situated roughly one km to the north of the main part of Lake Songkhla. It is surrounded on three sides by areas of open swamp vegetation, sedge beds and rice paddies. An extensive area of Melaleuca swamp forest (4,220 ha) extends to the north. The village of Ban Thale Noi is situated on the western shore..........

...The area of open water occupies 2,800 ha, roughly 60% of which is covered with floating or shallow-rooted aquatic vegetation. Grasslands and sedge beds cover 10,870 ha, and paddies 6,640 ha (Anon, 1981). The principal inflow to the lake is run-off from the steep slopes of the forested Banthad mountain range to the west. Outflow is via the Khlong Nong Riam and Khlong Yuan into Thale Luang, Lake Songkhla. While the lake is permanent, there may be fluctuations of up to 1.0m in depth, water levels usually reaching their minimum in August....

The average depth during most of the year is 1.2m; this declines to less than l.0m during the driest months. ...The lake is normally fresh to slightly saline (1.48 p.p.t.). At times of low water level during the driest months, some saline water enters the lake from Lake Songkhla, and the salinity may rise to a maximum of 3.5 p.p.t. The pH varies spatially and seasonally from 1.2-8.1 (average 4.4). The northern end, which lies in proximity to the Melaleuca swamp forest, is more acid than the south. The acidity increases during the rainy season as organic matter from acid humus leaches into the lake.