Thale Noi Non-Hunting Area (alternate spelling: Talae or Talay) is a protected fresh water wetland located in Phatthalung province, southern Thailand.

[12] Thale Noi Non-Hunting Area is a biologically diverse wetland with multiple habitat types supporting a vast array of flora and fauna species.

[15][20] These flood tolerant trees provide protective breeding grounds throughout the year for common native waterbird species such as the Little Cormorant (Phalocrocorax niger) and Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea), as well as other common avian species with annual breeding cycles including the Little Egret (Egretta garzetta), the Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) and the Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis).

Over-exploitation of Lepironia articulata, or Grey Sedge, in the Thale Noi region has led to shortages in supply for local communities’ dependent on the plant as a primary source of income.

[15] The cultivation of Lepironia articulata in the Thale Noi Non-Hunting Area does not require legal land tenure and little financial outlay,[15] making it an attractive method of earning income for poor families.

[25] Thale Noi Non-Hunting Area is internationally recognised for the valuable habitat, breeding grounds and refuge it provides to an extensive variety of indigenous and migratory bird species.

[12] It is likely that many species have been lost from the wetlands due to habitat conversion, pollution and fragmentation resulting from agricultural expansion and industrialisation,[26] however more research is required to quantify the extent of loss.

Siamese Fighting Fish (Betta splendens), once common in the Thale Noi Non-Hunting Area are facing declining populations due to habitat destruction from land conversion, pollution and over-exploitation in the pet trade.

It is reported that Prophagorus niuhofi, Walking Catfish, native to Thailand were previously found at Thale Noi,[15] however there is no recent literature available on the distribution of this species in the area.

[30] Populations of these species have declined in Thailand due to extensive habitat loss from land conversion into rice fields, rubber tree plantations and shrimp farms.

The Four-toed Terrapin (Batagur baska), a semi-aquatic species that lives in terrestrial and freshwater habitats,[31] was once found in the Thale Noi Non-Hunting Area,[15] however is now Extinct in the Wild in Thailand,.

Overfishing and trapping may also contribute to the declining Fishing Cat population in the region,[34] due to a reduction of food availability and increased risk of being killed by farmers protecting their stock or being sold in the illegal pet trade.

[34] A recent study in 2013 [36] found that Fishing Cats in the Thale Noi Non-Hunting Area were almost completely nocturnal, making recording individual numbers difficult to establish.

[24] Habitat destruction, fragmentation, pollution and overexploitation of the Thale Noi Non-Hunting Area has reduced populations of flora and fauna species with continuing risks of extirpation.

Shrimp cultivation in the Songkhla Lake Basin alone rose from ~35 km2 in 1982 to ~78 km2 in 2000 [41] changing the landscape from fertile wetland habitat to polluted and degraded water and soil resources over time.

Unaware or unconcerned with the impacts of environmental degradation on the ecosystem, runoff from rubber and food production industries and surrounding pig, shrimp and crop farms [43] are additional sources of pollution contaminating the area.

Thale Noi Non-Hunting Area provides an array of valuable ecosystem services to local communities whose economy revolves almost explicitly around exploiting the lake's resources.

[44] Education, training and enforcement of environmental protection laws needs to be more effective to ensure sustainable methods of cultivating and harvesting natural resources within the wetlands cause no further loss of biodiversity.

Weak enforcement of regulations, lack of coordinated programming and inadequate data collection and record keeping have previously been identified as key issues of concern in the management of this ecosystem,[11] however it is unknown if these problems have been addressed in recent times.