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ECO KOH TAO ECO NEWSLETTER
What’s Happening on Koh Tao
Edition 3, August 2008
In this issue:
1. Community Outreach at Eco Koh Tao & Crystal Dive
2. Monthly Community Clean Up Mae Haad July 31st
3. Green Fins comes to Eco Koh Tao
4. What are we Doing? The Art of Cleaning Up.
5. Reef Check – Become and Ecodiver
6. Join us on Facebook
7. CONTACT US
One of the biggest threats to the cultural development of the Dive industry in Thailand is the distinct lack of local dive leaders. Good people of the Secret Garden project along with a few dedicated locals have been helping the kids of the school by providing swimming lessons to interested individuals. This is a great opportunity for the local kids to become affiliated with the main industry of the island.
We’ve started providing pool space at Crystal for the kids to practice in on either Saturdays of Sunday mornings. In addition we recently facilitated the sponsorship of four Open Water Diver Manuals with certification in Thai. Kwan of Blacktip Diving is to hold an essay writing competition about the ocean environment and the four winners will receive the manuals and the training. Hopefully it will inspire them to continue on in the coming years and be respected dive leaders in the community in years to come. Special Thanks to BBC Sports for their sponsorship assistance.
2. Monthly Community Clean Up – Sairee Beach August 31st
The wheel has come full circle after 6 months of clean ups and we are back where we started. Our monthly Save Koh Tao clean up last month was a huge success back in Mae Haad with a number of schools involved. Eco Koh Tao & Crystal dive hosted more than 40 people in the beach & underwater clean up. We also managed to raise funds for the upcoming Bio-Rock Project at the after party held at Vibe bar after the clean up.
Sairee Beach is the second in our series of clean ups and with the prevailing westerly winds we need all the help we can to clear the waterways of debris washed in during this time of year. If you are on the island and would like to get involved please drop down to Crystal Dive around 1pm on August 31 to get involved, call Nath on 0875908548 or email me at nath@ecokohtao.com
Also see article below.
3. Green Fins comes to Eco Koh Tao
Green Fins is a Thai based marine conservation organization that has been operating in Thailand for some time now. Although we have been a member Green Fins Reef Watch Surveys have been conspicuously absent from our eco activities. Thanks to a visit be a couple of regional coordinators Chloe Hunt & JJ Harvey we have been given an orientation and will soon be conducting Reef Watch surveys. In addition Green Fins has requested that we join other dive schools on Koh Tao & adopt a reef. So from this day forth we have adopted Mango Bay in Koh Tao’s north.
4. What are we Doing? The Art of Cleaning Up.
Article to appear in Upcoming edition of Sabai Jai, Eco Travel Magazine
What’s Happening Underwater
Moving into the latter half of the year the focus for many continues to be the health and preservation of the marine environment around Koh Tao. In association with the Marine Branch of the Save Koh Tao Group, Marine Conservation Koh Tao, numerous individuals continue to ply the waterways of Koh Tao all in the name of preservation.
Koh Tao’s community wide beach clean ups continue to be a huge success and we are seeing more and more participation as time continues. One area that we have started to address has been the quality of the garbage we are removing from our oceans in the name of conservation. It seems an anomaly to talk about the ‘quality’ of garbage but is an area of conservation that will benefit both marine and land conservation.
Over the many clean ups I have been involved with I am surprised and pleased to say that the more I dive the less garbage I seem to collect. This is not necessarily due to a decrease in garbage, but rather a selective recovery attitude. Many things that we see as garbage can actually be beneficial to a coral reef or sand flat. Glass bottles, once secure and immovable, besides originally being made of sand, provide vital habitats for gobies and other small fish & invertebrates. In addition they can also provide solid substrata for new corals to cement to and grow from. Reefs seem to absorb bottles at an alarming rate. Old tyres that fall off the sides of boats similarly provide important homes for larger reef fish such as parrotfish & groupers.
The question I pose people to ask when collecting garbage from our waterways is this: Is the item in question going to cause any more damage where it is? The point is that anything we bring out of the water and onto land is going to contribute to land fill in Koh Tao’s already overloaded garbage dump. So leaving a lot of the so called garbage in the oceans, while aesthetically unattractive, may be better for the environment in the long run, and increase the habitat and biodiversity of Koh Tao.
Recently I joined numerous divers from a number of dive schools in an unscheduled and unplanned net clearing dive at one of Koh Tao’s premier dive sites, Chumpon Pinnacle. The net covered a large portion of the south end of the site and over the course of a coupe of days many divers contributed time and effort in freeing the reef of the enormous nylon net. During my dive, my buddies and I managed to clear a large portion of the net from the rock, but being unable to safely take it to the surface we simply moved it away from the rock and dropped it to the floor. The following day we returned with rope, lift bags and scissors to secure the net and bring it up. We found it lying at 27 metres on the sand, out of the way providing food for hundreds of sea urchins and a few other invertebrates. Evidence of larger predators on the now dead trapped fish was also obvious. From experience I realize that even nets, once out of harms way, provide important habitat for marine life. The net was heavy, secure, deep and immobile. It wasn’t going anywhere and we decided to leave it where it lay.
So join a beach and dive site clean up during your time on Koh Tao, and think very carefully about what you bring up for the benefit of both the marine and land environments.
Community clean ups on Koh Tao are scheduled on the last day of every month with organizing meetings held 2 days before at Dirty Nellies in Mae Haad at 7pm. Everyone is welcome to attend both the meeting and the clean up either independently, or through one of the many dive schools who participate. Alternatively many dive schools hold independent events on there own designated day. Check with your resort or dve school for any upcoming events.
5. Reef Check – Become and Ecodiver
Our Reef Check courses have taken on far more local relevance thanks to the integration of the internationally recognised Reef Check Ecodiver course being affiliated with the Marine Conservation Koh Tao’s Ecological Monitoring Program (EMP). The local EMP will help us collect more and more data on the local environment and allow us to track changes and make informed decisions on future development on Koh Tao. Without this data, informed decisions are nothing but guesses.
If you would like to make a positive contribution to the long term future of Koh Tao become an Ecodiver today and start being an integral part of the difference.
Ecodiver Course Dates
August 14 – 17, 2008
September 12 – 15, 2008
6. Join us on Facebook
Save Our Coral Reefs… sign up NOW!
Eco Koh Tao's Facebook Page
7. CONTACT US
If you are interested in getting involved in any of our activities, courses,
clean ups, or you have a friend who might be interested, or you simply have
some advice or suggestions please feel free to email us at
nath@ecokohtao.com or phone Nathan on 0867762252 or Justin on 0862742069 for
more info.
You have been added to this mailing list because you subscribed or you have
taken an environmental dive course with either Eco Koh Tao or Crystal Dive.
To subscribe to this newsletter please end a blank email to nath@ecokohtao with the subject title “Subscribe”
To unsubscribe to this newsletter please
end a blank email to nath@ecokohtao with the subject title “Remove”
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6. Join us on Facebook
If you haven't done so already, join us now: Save Our Coral Reefs… sign up NOW!
7. CONTACT USYou have been added to this mailing list because you subscribed or you have
taken an environmental dive course with either Eco Koh Tao or Crystal Dive.
To subscribe to this newsletter please end a blank email to nath@ecokohtao
with the subject title “Subscribe”
To unsubscribe to this newsletter please
end a blank email to nath@ecokohtao with the subject title “Remove”
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