Damaged Coral Beds Are Recovering

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REBIRTH OF THE REEFS

Published on Dec 20, 2005

Damaged coral beds in the Andaman Sea are recovering, but now need careful monitoring

There’s good and bad news about the coral gardens of the Andaman Sea one year after the tsunami caused havoc in six southern provinces.

First the good news – about 70 per cent of the damaged coral is showing signs of recovery, said Sakanan Plathong, a marine expert at Prince of Songkhla University.

The bad news is that since the corals were surveyed, self-interest among management groups has dimmed the prospect of coherent long-term management of the natural resource.

“About one fifth of the coral has been damaged,” said Sakanan. Damage is defined as coral banks in which more than 30 per cent has been affected.

Moderate and severe damage was recorded at 39 of 174 sites surveyed.

“Overall, it shows positive signs of recovery, but that doesn’t mean it’s already back to its previous condition,” he said.

“And there are some sites that are severely damaged, covered with sand, which won’t recover and we just have to let them go,” he said. Among these sites are Surin Island, Marine National Park’s Chorng Khard, the Similan Islands’ Chorng Ko and Hua Ko, as well as many sites off Ranong.

There were four main types of damage recorded by surveyors: coral that had been flipped over, broken coral, banks covered with sand, and corals beds damaged by underwater landslides.

“For coral to survive, the first month is critical. After that, the possibility of survival is cut drastically, because of diseases in the water,” Sakanan said.

That’s why so much work was put in under the water in January, such as clearing the seabed of debris and turning corals upright again. After that first step, replanting of sea fans and other species began in severely affected areas.

“We focused on areas where urgent help was required, such as around the Similan Islands. Sea fans there couldn’t recover without help, because they need a firm base in which to grow and the tsunami washed many of them onto unstable ground,” Sakanan said.

Much of the work was done by local divers, academics and private or international agencies – Phuket Marine Biological Centre was a standout – but very little effort was put in by the central authorities.

“We should have done a lot more than we did, we managed about 20 per cent of what we could have done,” Sakanan said.

He said budget delays had hampered rehabilitation efforts. “If sufficient money had come in on time we could have done a lot more.”

About 500-600 volunteer Thai divers and more from overseas did much of the hard work, said For Sea Foundation (FSF) president Vittayen Muttamara.

FSF was founded after the tsunami, with the sole purpose of rescuing damaged coral gardens.

The need to establish a new organisation highlights just how inefficient were the authorities charged with saving the coral. The foundation took it upon itself to ask for donations from the private sector, because the Bangkok authorities were apparently mired in confusion.

The FSF collected about Bt12 million and the central government eventually managed to raise some Bt70 million for restoration of not only coral, but also other marine resources.

On one hand, the tsunami brought home Thai people’s love for their coral and the sea that supports them, said Kasetsart University’s Thorn Thamrongnavasawasdi. Kasetsart was one of nine universities that joined the coral survey.

“Even motorcycle taxi drivers near my house asked me about coral recovery. That’s incredible,” Thorn said.

The willingness of private companies to donate money also surprised him, because many companies that came forward had never shown any interest in the past.

But Thorn pointed out that much of the money was specifically donated for popular tourist destinations, such as Surin and Similan, but not severely affected areas such as Ranong.

“The budget for coral restoration is much larger than before the tsunami, which is good. But on the other hand, it still isn’t enough to conduct systematic long-term monitoring and restoration,” he said, comparing the Bt70 million budget for coral restoration to the Bt350 billion of revenue from tourism to the six provinces that use coral and marine resources as a draw-card.

Paul Foley, a Phuket-based independent environmental business consultant, told The Nation that apart from the monitoring system, long term conservation of coral in the Andaman Sea needed supportive institutions and a good dose of favourable political will.

“The tsunami affected coastal resources more severely than those underwater. The bigger worry [other than the tsunami] is the human-related impact on coral, including wastewater from tourism-related activities,” he said.

“Tourism management in relation to carrying capacity is needed around the Andaman provinces, as well as specific institutions [to oversee conservation efforts],” he said.

Sakanan agreed, saying controlling tourism in the area was now being considered by relevant authorities. However, the fact there are so many authorities involved is a hindrance, he said.

Another survey of coral in the Andaman Sea is now being planned and should be completed by the end of January, he said.

Kamol Sukin,

Pennapa Hongthong

The Nation