Tourists head to Myanmar islands as Thai reefs decline
Boonleun Promprathankul
The Nation
Ranong


Coral bleaching in Thai waters has caused some tourists to travel instead to islands in Myanmar.

BANGKOK: -- Coral bleaching around Thai islands in the Andaman Sea has made a dent in tourism numbers. Many foreign divers have flocked lately to St Luke Island in Myanmar instead.

"They have turned away from Thailand because of the coral bleaching at key diving spots on our side," a source at A-One Diving Co Ltd disclosed.

Based in Ranong, the company has arranged dive trips to various destinations in the Andaman Sea. Some destinations are in Thai waters while others are in Myanmar territory.

"St Luke Island of Myanmar is now becoming world famous," the same source said.

The source said St Luke Island had yet to see a big boom because entry to Myanmar is still subject to complicated procedures and strict regulations. Each trip to the island takes at least seven days and the boats in Myanmar are not very comfortable.

"Despite that, the number of tourists to St Luke Island has now jumped by more than 30 per cent when compared with the previous year," the source pointed out.

He said if coral bleaching in Thai waters continues an increasing number of tourist divers are likely to head to Myanmar.

Ranong Tourism Association president Somchai Ouitekkeng said St Luke Island in southern Myanmar was becoming popular among Asians and Europeans. But, on the bright side, he believed Ranong could still reap benefits from the situation.

"We have the potential to become a gateway to hundreds of islands in southern Myanmar," Somchai said. He said apart from St Luke, the Mergui Islands were also beautiful and had more sights on them.

He said if the plan was successful, it would be possible to arrange for groups of Myanmar tourists to visit Thailand also.

Chang Island, which is close to the Myanmar-Thai border, is just 30 kilometres from Ranong town. It is a famous attraction on the Thai side.

"We can promote Chang Island further while protecting its good environment," Somchai said.


-- The Nation 2013-03-16

Just hope Myanmar has the foresight to protect their reefs before the tourist can do any harm to them. It appears Thailand got greedy over the years and now have lost their cash cow.

Now it appears the Thais want to exploit Myanmar's pristine virgin reefs. So sad!

Of course there is another Chang Island, down past Trat. Along with Phuket and Sumui Islands before it, Chang Island is being trashed by tourism and rampant developement.

Now this other Chang Island will be in the greedy speculators' sights. "We can promote Chang Island further while protecting its good environment" Khun Somchai said. Protecting it my *ss.

As a tourist looking for that untouched pristine experience, just by going to these places we are contributing to the destruction of the very thing we are looking for.

Thailand is going to lose a LOT of tourists as Myanmar continues to open up. So long as they learn from Thailand's reckless and greedy mistakes, they have a real chance to not screw things up. And good for them. Shame on the Thais for ruining just about every natural wonder they have.

You reap what you sow.

Wondering why only Koh Chang is mentioned and not bigger, more developed and much better known Koh Phayam right next to it.

You reap what you sow

Thailand has no clue what conservation means

They use and abuse it until it is gone

It is ok, tourist can now go to Chang Mai and suffocate in the fire smog

Time Thailand realizes it is 2013 ... not 1613

http://celebrating200years.noaa.gov/visions/coral/side.html

human populations expand in coastal areas, development alters the
landscape, increasing runoff from land. Runoff often carries large
quantities of sediment from land-clearing, high levels of nutrients from
agricultural areas and sewage outflows, and pollutants such as
petroleum products and pesticides. These land-based sources of pollution
threaten coral reef health.

This explains a lot of the cause.

One thing in Myanmar's favour is that the islands of the Mergui Archipelago are still very difficult to get to - by virtue of this they should remain protected (at least from too many visitors) for quite some time.

Costs for permits is relatively high, and there are currently only a few vessels based out of Kawthoung which are permitted to take foreigners to the islands.

I'm not a lawyer, but couldn't the Burmese government enforce their border and not allow these Thai boats to come to their islands?

Such a big tourist draw - but having filmed in many places like Koh Har and Koh Si Chang, Koh Chang, Koh Hong, Koh Nok and many others, I see these dive boats dumping quite a lot of trash, occasionally effluent, a part from leaking diesel and oil. A drop here and there? Cumulative over time. The Birmese may have better reefs at present but I doubt they will be any different to Thai operators once the country opens up a bit more, probably worse. Again it all comes down to education and an effective policing of these areas. In other words, highly doubtful.

"We have the potential to become a gateway to hundreds of islands in southern Myanmar,"

Wot? No hub? Is gateway going to be the new 'in' word and hub relegated to the dictionary?

I'd like to see the Myanmar Government make the 'gateway' a revolving door and large No Entry signs erected - in Thai. Time for a bit of payback for the misery that Thailand has heaped on desperate Myanmar people for so long.

I really want to visit Myanmar, but I will wait until next year.

I really want to visit Myanmar, but I will wait until next year.

I think with Thailand getting more expensive than ever this year a lot of 'quality' overseas tourists will be having the same thoughts.

I went on a trip from Penang in 2000, the boats went to a new spot because the old one was "played out". They had an undersea building and you could see loads of fish and coral but it was all spoiled when we were allowed to swim in the sea, covered in suntan oil.

I'm not a lawyer, but couldn't the Burmese government enforce their border and not allow these Thai boats to come to their islands?

They do.

David

The Islands in the Mergui Archipelagi used to be more or less unspoiled when I first went there diving in 1997.

But what was already happening then, was abundant dynamite fishing and illegal logging, mainly by Thais.

We used to go as far north as Caboosa Island and apart from the above mentioned crimes, it was a great place.

It's good that the vessels today are confined to the southernmost Islands. A negative point to this is that nobody can observe the destruction further north, which is still happening today.

They might want to protect the area, but I fear that the same thing is going to happen as everywhere.

Too sad

I really want to visit Myanmar, but I will wait until next year.

@stickyrice2000,

I just did a 5-day live aboard in the Mergui Archipelago and it was some of the best diving I have seen in years. Coral as pristine as you will find anywhere in the world. You can see images at my website.

As for boats, according to Burma Immigration, there were only 4 other boats in the archipelago during the week we were there. We saw only one other dive boat during the week and never dove on a site at the same time as them.

The dive company I went with was Similan Diving Safaris out of Khao Lek. They run a really nice boat. It was my second live aboard with them and am planning to go back either in April or November. I would recommend them as a choice if you decide to head to Burma for diving. They also do 4-day live aboard to the Similans.

I think even if you wait until next year, the diving will still be super for you there.

David

All the tens of thousands of SCUBA divers have frightened the fish away from the Thai reefs which without fish start to die. It the the noise of the air bubbles which spooks fish. And of course a lot of inexperienced SCUBA divers inadvertently tread on the coral and kill it. The water in Myannma is so clear you don't need SCUBA to see all the beautiful reefs. So the answer is to ban SCUBA and encourage snorkeling which does not scare the fish away. But of course there is no money to be made if people don't use SCUBA. So the operates of dive shops and all the SCUBA teachers would not be happy in spite of the fact it would save the reefs.

JCB2001 posted

Just hope Myanmar has the foresight to protect their reefs before the tourist can do any harm to them.

Have no clue what you are talking about here JCB - did tourists cause the destruction of 90 per cent of thai reefs since the 1960's or something? Don't keep it to your self enlighten us

gamini posted

All the tens of thousands of SCUBA divers have frightened the fish away from the Thai reefs which without fish start to die

So thats how the reefs were destroyed classic!

Do you always lie to yourself ? Is it a porblem

Wondering why only Koh Chang is mentioned and not bigger, more developed and much better known Koh Phayam right next to it.

While these are both great islands they do have issues there is a lot off sea lice there sometimes it's so bad you cant swimm in the water .coupled with the fact beaches are only good on one side of the island the other side is a bit shitty as it to near the water way that goes into ranong which is obviously filled with all sorts of <deleted>.saying that they are still one of my favourite places in thsiland

gamini posted

All the tens of thousands of SCUBA divers have frightened the fish away from the Thai reefs which without fish start to die

So thats how the reefs were destroyed classic!

Do you always lie to yourself ? Is it a porblem

Well go on then enlighten us with your theory then.

All the tens of thousands of SCUBA divers have frightened the fish away from the Thai reefs which without fish start to die. It the the noise of the air bubbles which spooks fish. And of course a lot of inexperienced SCUBA divers inadvertently tread on the coral and kill it. The water in Myannma is so clear you don't need SCUBA to see all the beautiful reefs. So the answer is to ban SCUBA and encourage snorkeling which does not scare the fish away. But of course there is no money to be made if people don't use SCUBA. So the operates of dive shops and all the SCUBA teachers would not be happy in spite of the fact it would save the reefs.

Wow!!!I have scuba dive for 30years and this is what I did to the reefs?I think I have to quit scuba diving.

BTW where do you get all that info?

All the tens of thousands of SCUBA divers have frightened the fish away from the Thai reefs which without fish start to die. It the the noise of the air bubbles which spooks fish. And of course a lot of inexperienced SCUBA divers inadvertently tread on the coral and kill it. The water in Myannma is so clear you don't need SCUBA to see all the beautiful reefs. So the answer is to ban SCUBA and encourage snorkeling which does not scare the fish away. But of course there is no money to be made if people don't use SCUBA. So the operates of dive shops and all the SCUBA teachers would not be happy in spite of the fact it would save the reefs.

I am sorry, but having dived many times at Bonaire in the Caribbean which is a very popular diving location I can categorically state that the fish are not scared off by bubbles.

Why are people blaming tourists for the sad state of Thailand's beaches? Its not tourists' fault the Thai government does nothing to enforce environmental regulations and allows Thai business to dump their waste directly into the sea. Hawaii, Cozumel and the Bahamas get a ton of tourists every year too yet their beaches seem to be doing just fine.

All the tens of thousands of SCUBA divers have frightened the fish away from the Thai reefs which without fish start to die. It the the noise of the air bubbles which spooks fish. And of course a lot of inexperienced SCUBA divers inadvertently tread on the coral and kill it. The water in Myannma is so clear you don't need SCUBA to see all the beautiful reefs. So the answer is to ban SCUBA and encourage snorkeling which does not scare the fish away. But of course there is no money to be made if people don't use SCUBA. So the operates of dive shops and all the SCUBA teachers would not be happy in spite of the fact it would save the reefs.

Wow!!!I have scuba dive for 30years and this is what I did to the reefs?I think I have to quit scuba diving.

BTW where do you get all that info?

Wow indeed. The guy's obviously never been near a reef. Not only are the fish not afraid of divers, many are naturally curious and come over for a look.

Pollution is a problem, but in my experience over fishing is the cause of 90% of the problems on Thai reefs. I know sites where there are plenty of fish because the dive boats deter the fishers, and I know less frequently dived sites that have been emptied of all their big fish by the night time visitors.

I've been in and out of Ranong for the past 6 years. It's only been about 2 years now that there were any Burmese dive boats. Dive boats from Thailand have been going there for years. They pay an annual fee. There are at least 2 other dive companies in Ranong and most of the dive shops from Phuket also make the trip as do Thai charter fishing companies. I do not believe Myanmar will do any more to protect the resources. The poster who mentioned dynamite fishing ruining reefs is correct.

When I was diving I heard that here was a push put in permanent buoys and markers by the use of anchored points in the reefs and that would restrict the recreational diving to only those sites. This would reduce the damage caused by boat anchors and divers and leave areas pristine. Go to Fiji and dive and you will be lucky to see a piece of rubbish. The asians seem hell bent on destroying the total environment. In Australia and Fiji there is always a dedicated rubbish collection on any dive boat.

Wondering why only Koh Chang is mentioned and not bigger, more developed and much better known Koh Phayam right next to it.

Gee, I thought Ko Chang was the second largest island in Thailand.

I'm not a lawyer, but couldn't the Burmese government enforce their border and not allow these Thai boats to come to their islands?

Wouldn't it benefit Thai tourism if Thai boats did not take tourists to Myanmar's islands? So, why wouldn't Thai Coast Guard be . . . . .

Sorry, too logical.