Coral reefs in Thailand in severe state of degradation

[webfact]

Coral reefs in severe state of degradation
JANJIRA PONGRAI
THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- Coral reefs at a popular marine national park, which covers the famous Phi Phi Island, have reached a severe level of degradation due to bleaching, a survey revealed.

"Bleaching has affected up to 70 per cent of the coral reefs around Hat Noppharat Thara-Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park. Of the affected corals, 47.52 per cent have died," a senior government official disclosed at an academic seminar yesterday.

Songtam Suksawang, who heads the National Parks and Protected Area Innovation Institute, described the situation as "worrying".

His institute conducted the survey between 2009 and 2013 across seven marine national parks and works under the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), which hosted the seminar.

The state of the coral reefs at Mu Koh Lanta National Park is even worse, with up to 80 per cent of them in a bad state. "Now, only 17 per cent of the corals are alive," Songtam said.

The survey also revealed that the size of living corals along Mu Koh Surin National Park had shrunk by 70 to 90 per cent, while those along Mu Koh Similan National Park had shrunk by about 40 to 50 per cent.

At the Moo Koh Chumphon National Park, about 70 to 80 per cent of the staghorn coral that were seeded as an experiment have also died from bleaching.

Coral bleaching emerged as a serious threat to Thailand's marine resources around 2010 and 2011, prompting the DNP to shut down at least 10 diving sites to prevent further damage.

Songtam said there were signs that reefs in previously shut down diving spots such as Hin Klang at Hat Noppharat Thara - Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park had recovered satisfactorily.

"Now, we plan to propose that the number of tourists is limited at each spot," he said.

He also suggested that clear diving tracks be built to ensure that divers do not get too close to the coral reefs and cause damage.

Meanwhile, DNP chief Manopas Hua-mueangkaeo said the number of visitors to national parks had risen by 8.2 per cent last year, and this year, the DNP plans to open marine national parks to tourists from October 15.


-- The Nation 2013-07-12

[bigbamboo]

That whitening cream gets everywhere in Thailand.

[theblether]

They're just going to have to close the reefs. This is a prime example of tourism killing the environment.

[tominbkk]

What causes the bleaching? Something they did not explain.

[theblether]

Various things such as water temperature, acid rain and the like but one of the primary causes is stress. Basically the reefs are living organisms that should be left in peace, not have speedboats flying overhead and boatloads of tourists down pulling at them.

While I say that tourism is killing the reefs, tourists could also help, with schemes like this.....

[DocN]

"Now, we plan to propose that the number of tourists is limited at each spot," he said.

Now we think about planning to maybe propose that eventually the number of tourists should perhaps some day be maybe limited.....

[jalansanitwong]

Its been a major problem in the sth hemisphere for 15-20 years. Australia's great barrierreef had a severe bleaching problem some time ago.

Its caused by climate change but mostly for reefs in shallows.

Not much can be done about it which will please the government because they wont do anything anyway. mass tourism will prolong the problem ie oil slicks from boats jetskis , fumes and noise(vibration) wont help either.

Australias marine environment is tightly controlled and some reefs are recovering but that wont happen here... TAT will see to that. 100 million hi-so tourists targeted for 2025! LOL TIT

[theblether]

Here's a simple one, changing the anchors can help too...........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNKOnghG-8U

[55bulldog]

I worked in diving a bit in the islands and a big problem is that the fishermen could careless. The term 'marine park", means nothing. It is extremely common to see nets everywhere in these protected areas with trapped fish and broken corals everywhere. Dynamite fishing still goes on. On two occasions I have witnessed "boat boys" and a captain fishing while divers dived-IN A MARINE PARK!

Tourist can be even a bigger problem. Especially during low tide. People think the reef is a park and feel the need to take a stroll on it. In places like Koh Lanta and Koh Phangan, people think they're going to find some treasure in a tide pool. A lot of divers, touch the coral or smash it up with their fins too.

[seajae]

conservation in Thailand is like rocking horse sh*t, very rare. Thais have no understanding of saving anything, if they can sell it, eat it or kill it they will do it. Everything revolves around what they can get out of it, they trash their country because they have no concern about it or its future. Until such time that the people are forced to abide by rules and regulations this will keep happening. And bleaching has a lot to do with the chemicals that are being flushed into the oceans from the rivers as wash off from all the rice/palm oil fields, same as the great barrier reef in oz but at least they are trying to fix it.

[NomadJoe]

They're just going to have to close the reefs. This is a prime example of tourism killing the environment.

Close it to fishing, yes. But the only thing that keeps the fishing boats out of areas they aren't supposed to be in is the dive boats who will report them.

What causes the bleaching? Something they did not explain.

Around Phuket a few years ago there was a 3-4 week period of little rain and the surface temps in some areas reached 35c/95f. Normal ocean temps are around 27c/79f. And corals are already stressed from rising acidity levels and pollution. This killed a lot of corals, mostly staghorn. Some are recovering, some are not.

He also suggested that clear diving tracks be built to ensure that divers do not get too close to the coral reefs and cause damage.

If this is the thinking from the people that are supposed to be protecting Thailand reefs, I am not sure what chance they have. "Clearing tracks" of coral so divers don't damage coral? What kind of insanity is this? Divers hover above the coral and, generally, don't touch it.

[AleG]

The two main causes of death for corals, besides heat induced bleaching are unsustainable fishing and silting. But hey, blame the tourists, much easier.

Fishing has (not is) destroyed the ecosystem in most if not all reefs in Thailand, you can hardly see sharks or large predators for example. Those are essential for a healthy ecosystem, if you remove them and an event like bleaching occurs it's much less likely that the reef will fully recover. There are more direct damages from fishing to reefs, a single ghost net can destroy more coral than any tourist activity could ever do.

[chainarong]

Coral reefs all over Thailand are like all other things that require sustained management procedures , in Thailand, they are poorly managed and under funded, the ecology of Thailand is under constant pressure in all area's and unfortunately wouldn't rate one on the nuclear scale with this PTP administration , to be frank, they couldn't care less, there's no cream in the pie here.

[catmac]

Just the sort of good news that will help TAT on its quest for umpteen billion "high end" tourists.

Seriously though, I have to agree with Seajae. Thais have done a pretty thorough job of trashing their country, so I don't see any chance of the coral reefs being treated any differently. Certainly the example set by the high and mighty in encroaching on National Parks to build luxury resorts, etc., doesn't help.

[AlphMichaels]

The dive boats do a terrible job of instructing people on the "do's and don't's" around the reefs in Koh Tao, Krabi and Phuket. IMHO, the reefs, save some that good captains know about well south and out some distance, are already dead. Yet I'm amazed when I see some people post dive pics "in awe". Must be their first dives.

It's a shame what has happened and any level of enforcement is too late. The Virgin Islands (both USVI and BVI) undertook strict measures over 30 years ago and continue to do a better job of it than most good dive spots around the world.

[Hunter s somtam]

Its been a major problem in the sth hemisphere for 15-20 years. Australia's great barrierreef had a severe bleaching problem some time ago.

Its caused by climate change but mostly for reefs in shallows.

Not much can be done about it which will please the government because they wont do anything anyway. mass tourism will prolong the problem ie oil slicks from boats jetskis , fumes and noise(vibration) wont help either.

Australias marine environment is tightly controlled and some reefs are recovering but that wont happen here... TAT will see to that. 100 million hi-so tourists targeted for 2025! LOL TIT

Your right mate ,look at this photo from beautiful Samui ,hua thanon ,check out the rubbish on the beach .

I used to live across the road from here and there is a reef and coral island off shore it looks like this out there too.

[Suffinator]

it's been getting worse for years due to the corruption and no Thai appears to care. I gave up diving in Thailand 6 years ago because instead of seeing stunning corals and other marine life all you got to see was fishing nets and garbage.

http://meebal.com/thailand-diving-paradise-now-a-wasteland/

[MaxLee]

Over-promotion of TOURISM ONLY TOURISM, leads to more trash binning into the sea...