Bangkok Post 2 Jun 11;
The government and marine authorities have come under attack from experts for not moving swiftly enough to rehabilitate coral reefs in Andaman marine national parks bleached by warmer sea water.
Sakanand Plathong, a marine scientist at Prince of Songkla University who is a member of a special committee on rehabilitating coral reef bleaching, said there had been an absence of concrete measures to improve the situation since last year. The only exception was an order to close coral reef sites in national parks.
"We can't do anything right now. All we can do is wait for budget approval from the government so we can survey the coral to assess the recovery chances," Mr Sakanand said.
"Without credible information on the reefs, we can't even set up a correct plan to preserve and protect them."
Mr Sakanand said it was possible to rehabilitate the bleached coral reefs. But the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation had failed to set any policies to do so.
Because of the department's lethargic response, the situation had worsened and diving was still going on despite poor reef conditions. Part of the reason was incorrect information collected by the department.
More than 80% of the coral reefs in the Andaman Sea are believed to have suffered bleaching since April last year. Only 7% have shown signs of recovery so far.
The department in January ordered 18 coral reef sites in seven national parks in the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand closed in a bid to save them from bleaching caused by unusually high water temperatures.
The special committee, comprising academics and state agency representatives, was set up to take care of the issue.
Department chief Sunan Arunnoparat conceded there had been delays but the department was ready to act once funds were approved.
"We accept there has been a delay as we have many things to do at the moment. But we are not ignoring the issue," he said.
Mr Sunan said he was worried about the coral reefs in the Similan and Surin islands in Phangnga province which have yet to show significant signs of recovery.
Napan Sevikul, a freelance divemaster, said he had shared information with other dive master networks on the coral reefs and found many places have a good chance of recovery, especially in Koh Ha Yai and Koh Hin Muang Hin Daeng in Krabi province; and Tarutao, Adang-Ravi and Lipe islands in Satun province.
