Asia Dive News: Koh Chang's
first underwater cleanup a great success - April 2, 2006
We have all heard about the
Similans and
Surin Islands, Phuket and Koh Tao and about the diving
in Western Thailand but more and more people are discovering a new dive
destination in Thailand: Koh Chang or “Elephant Island”. Koh Chang is the
second largest island in Thailand and lies in a group of 47 islands that
have been awarded National Park status due to its pristine rain forest and
marine life. It is a beautiful, green and mountainous island located in Trat
province near the Cambodian border in Eastern Thailand. It is only 300 km.
from Bangkok but the region has just recently begun to awaken to tourism.
Divers, backpackers and package tourists are starting to spend more and more
time on the island above and below in its impressive waters. The great
beaches, fabulous waterfalls and stunning scenery are attracting more people
every season to this lovely island.
With all the new tourist interest in Koh Chang and its underwater world
there have been many changes to the island. One of the largest is the simple
fact that more divers are visiting the area to investigate just how
beautiful the marine life and coral gardens are. Diving has existed on Koh
Chang for over a decade now, but only in the last 3 or 4 years have tourists
begun to plan dive holidays to the region. Divers of all levels from
beginners to professionals are finding that there is plenty of marine life
to keep their excitement level high while they dive in these waters.
With a boom in tourism, there is always the need to address environmental
issues and Koh Chang's Dive Community has started to look at different ways
to help preserve the quality of their reefs and marine life. In October of
2005 some of the dive shops, organized by Koh Chang Dive Point, started
their own mooring project in the National Parks Waters. By setting up
permanent mooring lines and securing buoy markers. There is now no need to
drop anchor lines. The positive results of this project have been noticed
already with much less damage to the coral gardens and more coral growth. As
the corals continues to flourish the marine life that inhabitants the waters
of this area stay plentiful and abundant.
One of the biggest issues facing every dive environment including Koh Chang
is the problem of underwater garbage and pollution. In March of 2006 the Koh
Chang organized their first underwater clean-up with the Project AWARE
Foundation, the dive industry's leading nonprofit environmental organisation.
The clean-up was organized by The DASTA, Designated Area of Sustainable
Tourism Administration of Thailand headed by Director, Mr. Tunya Hanpon and
the Koh Chang National Marine Park, along with help from Koh Chang Diving
Club Members. With a group of local Thai divers and participating dive shops
on the island, the day turned out to be lots of fun and very successful.
The local dive shops helped by
providing the use of their boats, equipment, and supplying their staff from
BB Divers, The Dive Adventure, Koh Chang Dive Point, Eco-Divers, Koh Chang
Divers and White Sand Dive Centre. With the theme for the day, “Come and
Join a Clean and Beautiful Sea at Koh Chang National Park” the first clean
up was a very successful outing. After a morning ceremony starting the day
at 8:00 A.M, the divers headed out to their assigned dive sites and smaller
island locations. With the intention that this will be the first of an
annual event and everyone excited and ready, the clean up was underway.
While having fun and enjoying the day, the group collected various different
types of garbage, raised old truck tires, power generators, and removed old
fishing nets and traps. Once everyone was back at shore, the garbage
collected weighed in over 3000 kilos. Hopefully with this being the first of
many annual clean ups on Koh Chang there will be more involvement from other
divers and dive shops on the island!
What interests and excites divers most about diving in the waters around Koh
Chang and its archipelago are the underwater rock pinnacles. The majority of
these underwater pinnacles lie in the waters to the south of the island. The
depths of the sites range from 5 to 30 metres and offer divers of all
experience levels from novice to professional something to see. There are
also a series of dive sites to the west which give you the opportunity to
change your dive destination daily. The currents in the region provide
nutrient rich conditions ideal for healthy and dense marine life.
The impressive reefs include an
abundance and variety of both soft and hard corals, and beautiful and
colorful anemones which all help to support a wide range of tropical marine
life. Visible on almost every dive are Bluespotted Stingrays, Moray Eels,
Trigger Fish, Angelfish, Barracudas, Groupers, Porcupine Puffer Fish, and
Batfish. Turtles live on most of the dive sites and the occasional Whale
Sharks are seen in the waters also. Visibility can reach 30 metres depending
on the time of year. Diving can be done year round but the best time is
between October and the end of May.
So with great diving in a marine national park and increasing efforts to
preserve the local marine ecosystems now is a great time to dive Koh Chang.
Come and see for yourselves and don't miss out on what other divers are
keeping a secret!
|
