The Nation 29 Jan 11;
The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) is planning to make "efforts against coral bleaching" a national agenda.
"We will seriously solve this problem," Songtham Suksawang said yesterday in his capacity as the head of DNP national parks division.
Many diving sites at famous marine national parks in the Andaman Sea have been closed to tourists since January 21 after coral bleaching killed a large portion of reefs.
"We will propose zoning for diving attractions," Songtham said.
He added that admission fee hike and the ceiling on the number of tourists each day might also be used to protect the coral reefs.
Songtham was speaking during a brainstorming session on the coral bleaching crisis.
The event drew in academics, divers, government officials, and representatives from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).
Prince of Songkla University lecturer Sakanan Plathong said coral reefs could be restored in many areas if relevant parties could minimise disruptive activities.
Sakanan called for the closing of diving sites and creation of artificial reefs.
"Constructions near the sea must also be strictly regulated," he added.
For Sea Foundation secretary Vittayen Muttamara, who also serves as the secretary to a PM's Office Minister Satit Wongnongtaey, said he would submit the information gathered from the brainstorming session to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva next Tuesday.
Apart from the coral bleaching, the session also heard about admission fee corruption at marine national parks.
An independent diving guide said he recently brought a tour group to a national park in the Andaman Sea and found officials offering him a 40percent discount on admission fees if he did not demand receipts or tickets.
"DNP should look into the matter," he said.
TAT representative Kulpramote Wannalert said a 2010 survey found that Thailand's sea was the most powerful magnet.
"Coral bleaching news has not made any big impact on tourism yet," she said.
Illegal fishing depletes fish in national park
Bangkok Post 29 Jan 11;
In light of recent stories regarding the coral bleaching at Similan Islands and other areas of southern Thailand, I want to bring to the world media's attention a problem that may have even more severe consequences for the future of Similan National Park. The problem is illegal fishing within the marine park and the plight of the shark population.
It is no secret to most people working on dive boats or day-trip boats to Similan that fishing is happening on a large scale even though the rules state that no animal is to be harmed within the park boundaries. Yet fishing boats are often seen at night time as close as 500 metres to the protected islands. There are also many large fish traps dropped well within park limits. These traps are clearly identifiable by the floats used to mark their locations. Many of these fish traps are seen on dive sites; I have seen these traps at up to 8 different sites.
Even more disturbing is the plight of Koh Tachai, another island supposedly protected by the national park. During the night it is common to see illuminated drift net fishing taking place around the whole island.
What is most disturbing is that this happens during the tourist high season when most fishing boats are kept away by tourist boats. I can only imagine the level of fishing that occurs during the low season.
The high season begins in November and as most Similan workers will admit, there is a severe lack of marine life, especially the larger pelagic species such as sharks, barracuda, tuna and trevelly. These fish populations slowly begin to recover during the high season only to then be fished out during the following low season.
In the past, at the start of the season when there are not many fish to be seen there was always beautiful corals as a distraction. This is no longer the case.
The national park wardens do not seem to do anything to stop any of these fishing activities. On the contrary, they are often seen visiting fishing boats and returning with fish or crabs. When on occasion the wardens are questioned as to illegal fishing activities, their standard answer is that they do not have the resources to police the marine park.
At present Similan is Thailand's premier national park which earns the Thai National Park Service hundreds of millions of baht every year, yet illegal fishing activities are destroying the park's resources. Islands are vital breeding grounds for fish stocks and if fishing is allowed to continue around these breeding grounds, then the future of this vital eco-system is in severe jeopardy.
When I first started diving in the Similan in 2004, it was common to see sharks on many of the dive sites. Now only six years later, I have seen less than 10 sharks in a total of three months! Every day at Tap Lamu Pier (the closest fishing port to the Similan Islands) long-line fishing boats and fish-trap boats return to unload a minimum 10 sharks daily per boat. The number of these boats is also on the increase. I fear that shark extinction is likely within the next few years unless something is done to rectify this situation.
Since I started diving in the Similan, I have logged every dive and recorded every shark I have seen. I have records from over 1,500 dives that show shark sightings falling dramatically. I have photographs of sharks being unloaded and also photos of fish traps on dive sites, fish-trap markers within park boundaries and of boats participating in drift net fishing.
VERY CONCERNED DIVER
