Situated at the mouth of Tha Chin River, a distributary to the Gulf of Thailand Tha Chalom village is one of the oldest ports. King Rama V once visited this area privately to experience the local way of life. There he saw groups of people making a living by fishing and producing processed seafood, e.g. salted fish and shrimp paste. Along the side of the street were markets, both on land and on water, crowded with people buying selling goods, gambling houses, opium dens, taverns, playhouses, traditional Thai opera venues, and more. On 18th March, 1905, Tha Chalom was upgraded to the status of sanitary district called “ThaChalom Sanitary district”, the country’s first sanitary district, by order of the king to further development and prosperity within the area Even though Tha Chalom became a municipality, it continues to preserve original conditions of a fishing village, but has expanded into an extensive fishing industry – traditional fishery, marine creature breeding, cold storage business, seafood processing, shipbuilding business, and a seafood distribution centre operated by3 fish markets (Municipal fish market, Samut Sakhon fish market, and Talay Thai fish market). With a wide variety marine creatures, e.g. groupers, sea perches, squids, and mackerels in particular, the ThaChalom Municipality, in collaboration with the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Samut Sakhon office organizes during November an annual event the “Delicious Mackerel Festival” held since 2008 at the embankment front of Wat Sutthiwat Wararam.