Conservation - THAILAND Monthly Update for Conservation Programme - August 2007

Thailand Marine Conservation Project - August 2007

Well, August has certainly lived up to its reputation as the wettest and windiest month of the year here on the west coast of Thailand. So much so that we could not go out diving for 10 days, and on some of the days when we did get out, the underwater visibility was virtually zero making for difficult and not such enjoyable diving. Fortunately though, this bad weather came towards the end of the 2nd two week programme, allowing us to complete the open water dive course for these volunteers, as well as fitting in dives for the longer term volunteers whenever the weather abated. The volunteers on the 2nd two week programme seemed to have as much fun, if not more, than the 1st group. They all loved the diving of course, but then also got stuck into the seed collecting (as well as in the mud!) in the mangroves with the other volunteers, thoroughly enjoyed the mangrove kayaking, and found the trip to Khao Lak and the tsunami-struck region interesting.

Despite the weather, the regular volunteers have still managed 20 dives this month, four of which have been specific salvage dives where 26.5kg of debris was collected including 3 rubber tyres. A large fish trap was found on top of a coral bommie at Viking Cave on Phi Phi Lei. It was still intact and evidently in use, so to minimise damage to the coral but not to anger the fishermen who owned it, we moved it to a sandy area away from the reef rather than lifting it to the surface and carting it off as rubbish. Additionally, during the other 16 dives this month, which have consisted of survey practice, a couple of Reef Watch surveys, some underwater navigation challenges, and 3 fun dives, there has been quite a lot of debris spotted and removed by volunteers - a good sign that they are always on the look out for litter no matter what they are doing underwater. The items removed have included a longtail anchor, the usual fish nets and rope that are always found, a metal bar, a length of heavy duty hose, two icebags, and a snorkel, weighing 39.3kg in total. Although the visibility hasn't been the greatest on many of the dives this month, a couple of big schools of barracudas have been spotted, along with several catfish which are not often seen, an enormous potato grouper, a banded sea snake, and a couple of blacktip and bamboo sharks, to name a few of the more interesting species observed.

On two of the dives the volunteers carried out a survey of giant clams at Koh Kai and Koh Ya Wa Sam. This followed on from a bio-workshop we'd had the week before at a clam nursery in Phang Nga Province, where we learnt about their breeding and release programme and then helped clean three aquariums full of giant clams. Whilst doing this, we got a chance to handle the clams and were all surprised by the weight of them and amused by the way they squirt water when picked up. The clam surveys at the two local islands were done on the request of Phuket Marine Biological Centre (PMBC) as they had released up to 50 giant clams at these sites a year ago, and they wanted to know if they had survived. During the survey, many clams were found but it was impossible to tell whether they were the ones released or naturally occurring ones; they had been tagged by PMBC but we think that the tags have been overgrown by algae and other marine life. We will report our findings to PMBC and see if they want us to do any further investigation. Having made links with the clam nursery I am interested in seeing whether it would be possible for us to collaborate with them and release some clams ourselves at some point during the coming high season; I'll definitely report on this if it comes about.

On a couple of the days when diving was planned but the weather had other ideas, we organised alternative activities such as a trip to the hot springs at Nam Tok Ron followed by a strenuous climb up to the top of the Tiger Temple just outside Krabi. The temple is atop a wooded limestone karst and only reached by climbing over 1200 steps of every conceivable height, width, and steepness, but it is well worth the effort as the views at the top are spectacular. On another windy day we all went to Ao Thalane, jumped into double kayaks and paddled through the creeks of beautiful mangroves enclosed by towering cliffs and canyons. Everyone had fantastic fun, especially when we entered a large lagoon and began splashing each other with our paddles - the ensuing water fight continued for a good 15 minutes and resulted in several volunteers capsizing each other. The trip is a great way to experience the true beauty of healthy mangrove ecosystems alive with many mischievous monkeys that jump on to the kayaks in search for scraps of food. To do some conservation at the same time as enjoying the kayaking, we were on the look out for any rubbish caught amongst the root systems but it was high tide so didn't find much.

However, before beginning the kayaking and before the tide was fully in, we spent a couple of hours collecting rubbish on the muddy shore around the village of Ao Thalane. It seemed as though the area had never been cleaned before as we picked up a huge amount of rubbish (288kg) in a short time, including over 30 batteries which are incredibly damaging to the environment when they begin to leak their acidic fluids. We've also done another six beach clean ups in the local area, collecting a staggering 1060.5kg of litter. This is the 2nd highest weight collected in one month this year, resulting in a yearly total of over 5000kg - fantastic work by all involved. Some of the strange items found this month were an inhaler, a party hat, a plastic flower, a teddy bear, a plastic toy car, a floppy disc, a plug adaptor and a head lamp. On four days at two different beaches syringes were also found and carefully disposed of.

And last but not least we come to work carried out in the mangroves. When the 2 week volunteers were here, everyone went collecting seeds both to give to the local community and also to use in our experiment. 1895 seeds in total were found; a better result than the previous time we went collecting! The species of seeds picked up were Heritiera littoralis, Xylocarpus moluccerisis and Bruguiera sexangula, of which the former made up two thirds of the count. We then used these seeds the following day as the third species planted in our research nursery, planting 800 in total in the same conditions as the other two species. It will soon be time to return to monitor the growth of all the plants in our nursery again and hopefully find some evidence of the best growing conditions. Once the third batch of seeds was planted, an all out mud war began between the volunteers resulting in some incredibly muddy but merry people - a good way to end a day of hard work. On another day, seven volunteers joined forces with the local community at Baan Thung Prasan and helped plant some of the saplings they had cultivated over the last few months. 1000 Bruguiera sexangula saplings were planted along a 2km stretch of a canal near the village.

So, that concludes the round up for August; the bad weather has meant that the diving schedule has been messed about quite a lot but we've done our best to go out whenever we could. I'm hoping September calms down a bit and the waters clear up to give better visibility. And the third weekend of September is the International Coastal Clean-up so we are trying to get a couple of the local schools interested and involved in that important day. I am going to ask the teaching and care volunteers to join in as well since it is an international event, and also as we will be down to only two or three conservation volunteers at that time; quite a difference from the high numbers we've had during August. In fact, the volunteer house is feeling positively empty right now as so many people have left this month to return to, or start, university. September this year being the calm before the storm of October volunteers begin to arrive - the staff are relishing the chance to rest a little after the very busy and productive summer months.

Marten Meynell
3^rd September 2007
Director for Thailand Conservation
Projects Abroad

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