Thailand's largest coral reef clean-up operation is well underway, with hundreds of divers, from Thai military divers to tourist volunteers, clearing tons of debris from the world-class dive sites in the Andaman Sea around Phuket.
Maitree Duangsawasdi, the director of Thailand's marine and coastal resources department said that only about 10% of the 78 square kilometers (30 square miles) coral reefs in the Andaman Sea near Phuket were damaged by the Tsunami wave of 26 December 2005.
Potentially dangerous debris ranging from general garbage to kitchen sinks and even cars are littering the sea floor and have harmed the coral reefs and could further obstruct coral reef regeneration, director Maitree said today in Phuket.
The coral reefs near Koh Phi Phi island, southeast of Phuket are probably the most hurt with an estimated 1,000 tons of debris littering the corals of Phi Phi Island, Maitree added.
The coral reefs in Phuket itself are less hurt, with several hundred tons of garbage ranging from suitcases, building material, and even cars obscuring the corals in the azure waters surrounding Patong beach, Kata and Katon beach.
Thailand's coral reefs are not only important as marine resources but also very important to Phuket's tourism industry, said Maitree on Patong beach to the more than 300 volunteer divers ranging from local Thais to volunteer foreign tourists.
We must try to clear the debris from the corals before the month of April because then the monsoon season starts which will add more dirt, and this could cause so much damage to the coral reefs that it would hinder reef regeneration in the long-term.
Despite that many dive shops in Phuket are still repairing the damage to their own shops and boats, many of Phuket's dive operators contributed personnel and equipment to the cleanup operation.
The clean-up kicked off this weekend on Patong beach in Phuket and apart from the 300 divers at Patong, another 70 divers in tree other boats departed from the jetty to head out and start cleaning the coral reefs of the Ratcha Yai dive site.
Maitree said that normally one day of cleanup could cost as much as 400,000 Baht (US 10,000) dollars, but the support from the diving community and foreign tourist volunteers had made this cleanup worthwhile and cost-effective. Some Thai and foreign divers flew in over the weekend from Bangkok and Pattaya to come and help out.
Off the shores of Patong beach, a Thai Buddhist monk on board the boat MV Discovery owned by the Santana Diving Shop recited prayers and blessed each diver before they jumped into the sea to start cleaning the seabottom.
We pray to the dragon god of the sea to protect those Thai and foreign divers and to bless the souls of the thousands of tsunami victims who passed away, monk Bhikkhu Buddha Dhatu chanted his prayers.
The divers started to haul in a serious catch of debris ranging from corrugated iron sheets, cement blocks, suitcases, bottles, fishing nets and even cars that the tsunami waves had pulled out to the sea. The surfacing divers said that the damge was less than expected and that the water was generally clean. Several divers were excited after spotting seahorses and many colorful fish which they thoughtt would have perished in the disaster.
Thailand's coral reef clean-up is supported by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), which has provided a lot of equipment for the operation. The UNDP has warned that some sites suffered extreme sedimentation damage and that heavy sand will eventually kill the coral if it is not removed.
