Bangsaphan community coral reef clean up

[buksida]

The event, held on April 10th, was organised and sponsored by the local government (OPD) and a number of companies and organizations including Omsin Bank, Chumphon Marine Conservation Group, Coral Resort (who provided the scuba tanks) and Kig Travel Company (who provided the boats). The objective was to clean the trash off the coral reefs surrounding Koh Sing and Koh Sang before the Songkran tourist rush, I was fortunate enough to be invited along.

Setting up

Group shot

Dive brief with indications as to where most of the trash lies.

The dive boat

Cutting nylon fishing line off the coral

[buksida]

Just one coral head is a three man job

Nylon fishing line is highly destructive to marine life

It is a tough job getting it out

Everything is bagged up and taken to the surface

The crew vessel off Koh Sang

[buksida]

This is the kind of crap that litters the seabed

An area cordoned off for the influx of snorkellers this week, Koh Talu in the background

Nudibranchs are still abundant around the two islets

Cutting more rope away from the reef

Bag it and bin it

[buksida]

An unrelated problem is coral bleaching which happens when the water gets too warm

The cleanup continues

This Acropora receives some special attention

Despite the abuse by fishermen marine live still thrives at these islands

Cleaning bags of plastic off a Koh Talu beach frequented by tourists

You're never too young to learn how to protect the marine environment

A great effort was made by all and a lot of trash was removed from the reef, an estimated 95% of it came from fishing boats and consisted of nylon fishing line, ropes, lead weights and nets. Some nets were up to 50 meters long and the coral beneath it had all died, we had to cut the anemones out and reposition them elsewhere.

Sadly as long as the Thai fishing community continues to abuse the ocean and reefs this problem will never be resolved, however with initiatives like this one we hope we can make a bit of a difference in the right direction.

[Mike Parker]

Never understood the mentality of fisherman who livelihood depends on a healthy sea. In the Philippines they are still using dynamite, close to the shore,trust that's not hapening in Thaland.As we have said before education is the key but how to you get the message through to these people ? Great photos ,thanks.

[Zone Rider]

Zone Rider here, just checking in.

Thanks to the opportunity from Buksi for the dive.

[buksida]

Cheers for adding the vid however when I try to play it I get "An error occurred, please try again later."

[Mike Parker]

Cheers for adding the vid however when I try to play it I get "An error occurred, please try again later."

Worked for me at 7.0pm Thai time

[buksida]

Just to prove I'm not losing the plot here is a screenshot ...

[buksida]

Just got it ... nice - the viz actually looks better in that vid than is was!

[migrant]

Looks like the visibility here in California!!

[SeaShell]

Nice video Zone Rider! Will you be doing more? Do not dive myself, so rather interesting to see what's underneath all that water!!