Diving, snorkeling off Samae San islands banned indefinitely

[Rimmer]

Diving, snorkeling off Samae San islands banned indefinitely

SATTAHIP:--Sattahip authorities have halted boat tours around nine small islands to protect coral reefs there.

Samae San Subdistrict Mayor Prasert Pitakkorn issued the order to 19 tour boat operators April 29, saying snorkeling and scuba diving at the islands has been suspended indefinitely.

 

The order came after dive guide Eakawat Meetem, 32, was caught on video picking up a sea anemone to bait some clownfish for Chinese tourists. He has since been arrested and charged by the Department of Marine and Coastal Resource.

 

In addition to the 19 dive boats, about 100 speedboats can fill the water around Samae San’s islands. The Samae San Conservation Club met with boat operators to explain the new prohibitions.

 

-- PATTAYA MAIL 2019-05-04--

[overherebc]

Good.

[manchega]

yes very good thing, reefs in thailand are ruined, just 10 years ago they were a little battered, after tsunami a bit worse now they are bleached excuse for a a reef and no one stops the fishermen from standing on them fishing at all hours of the day

[Geordie59]

3 minutes ago, Kim J said:

The Tsunami had absolutely no affect on the Gulf of Thailand. The only things around here that have destroyed the marine ecosystem are greed, stupidity and ignorance.

Exactly.

Closing al the tourist attractions is not the way to go. 

They need proper management, rules and enforcement so that people can enjoy them without harming them. 

It works all around the world. 

[Captain 776]

I am still in search of pristine live vibrant coral.

It is increasingly harder to find anywhere in the world.

From 87-89 Ilived in Hawaii and used to Spearfish with colleagues almost every Sunday.

Many places were indescribable, beauty beyond words, Olawalu Maui was one, water so crystal clear, it was like air and every color of the spectrum.

2 yrs ago we were in Maldives, even at a sandbar / atoll 45 minutes offshor,the  coral was 85% dead, brown or bleached white, very few fish and nothing bigger than 10 cm.

In March we stayed at Khao Lak and I chartered a private boat to North n South Surin Islands, before I booked the boat, I told them what I wanted to see which was live coral, nice colors, lots of fish........lolol they assured me we would.......NOT even close.

I asked the Captain of the boat,which is better Similan or Surin.........he said Surin..........so that means after seeing Surin, I never need to go to Similan.

Maybe Raj Ampat Indonesia........they swear the coral you will see matches the pictures on the website.........been fooled too many times.

70% of The Great Barrier Reef is effected and at least 50% of that 70% has no chance of ever getting revived.

Coral is e extremely fragile, it cant tolerate any development or more than a 2 degree temperature change in surrounding waters.

[Tropposurfer]

Our impact on reefs is profound.

touism with copious quantities of sunblock leeching into the water (yes this is significant!), random anchoring, chain drag, bottoms of boats hitting reefs, people touching coral, breaking it, and general disturbance by so many people, moving about the system fuel in the water, combined with the earth warming has seen our reefs really impacted.

reef parks banning anchoring boats fishing of any sort (nothing can be removed) and any tours at all have a helpful impact on plant and coral regeneration and fish nursery health.

Declaring some areas people free helps nature but not human bank balances.

We are going to continue to see large parts of what we knew as the worlds great reef systems die off.

i live in cairns at the mo and you have to go to the outer edges of the Barrier Reef to see good coral and fish life. Here on the reef for all tour areas we use pre-fixed anchor points to minimise impact but any interaction damages.

nature will recover in many millennia to come but we might not be around to see it.

While the water around the Similan is fairly clean when I saw it not long ago, the coral is rooted and few fish.

few tourists have awareness of what they do.

as a waterman all my life I thought I knew a lot about not damaging the ocean but sadly our very presence is ... !

[Tidybeard]

3 hours ago, Captain 776 said:

I am still in search of pristine live vibrant coral.

It is increasingly harder to find anywhere in the world.

From 87-89 Ilived in Hawaii and used to Spearfish with colleagues almost every Sunday.

Many places were indescribable, beauty beyond words, Olawalu Maui was one, water so crystal clear, it was like air and every color of the spectrum.

2 yrs ago we were in Maldives, even at a sandbar / atoll 45 minutes offshor,the  coral was 85% dead, brown or bleached white, very few fish and nothing bigger than 10 cm.

In March we stayed at Khao Lak and I chartered a private boat to North n South Surin Islands, before I booked the boat, I told them what I wanted to see which was live coral, nice colors, lots of fish........lolol they assured me we would.......NOT even close.

I asked the Captain of the boat,which is better Similan or Surin.........he said Surin..........so that means after seeing Surin, I never need to go to Similan.

Maybe Raj Ampat Indonesia........they swear the coral you will see matches the pictures on the website.........been fooled too many times.

70% of The Great Barrier Reef is effected and at least 50% of that 70% has no chance of ever getting revived.

Coral is e extremely fragile, it cant tolerate any development or more than a 2 degree temperature change in surrounding waters.

I went to Raja Ampat last year and it was 80% pristine. Still loads of colour and life, but boy is it expensive to get there and to dive there. Make sure your bank balance can take it. 

[VBF]

HOPEFULLY, the Sattahip authorities are learning from the mistakes made in the South (Phuket and other areas) over many years.

Good news if they are.????

[Chongalulu]

16 hours ago, VBF said:

HOPEFULLY, the Sattahip authorities are learning from the mistakes made in the South (Phuket and other areas) over many years.

Good news if they are.????

If,as the article implies,their action was based on that single incident this is just a typically Thai knee jerk reaction rather than a thought through strategy based upon previous lessons. Closing it suddenly,while probably correct at this late stage,suggests a blind eye being turned until too late. Of course the ubiquitous corruption and lack of foresight will likely  have played its inevitable part in allowing circumstances to arrive at this point.

[Basil B]

Disappointing...

 

Had some great dive off the Islands, including many night dives.

 

Will they also be banning the fishermen who dynamite the coral???

[KNJ]

get yourself to the Andaman islands, there is nothing like it anywhere

[LomSak27]

On 5/4/2019 at 12:12 PM, manchega said:

yes very good thing, reefs in thailand are ruined, just 10 years ago they were a little battered, after tsunami a bit worse now they are bleached excuse for a a reef and no one stops the fishermen from standing on them fishing at all hours of the day

They were beat up, battered, cyanided and dynamited by 86.  The ones you snorkeled at after that date were the outliers that had escaped that mass attack. If you want good reefs that are getting hit right now and won't be around in ten years .... try Indonesia and the Maluku islands