Conservation - THAILAND Monthly Update for Conservation Programme - February 2007

Thailand Marine Conservation Project - February 2007

February has been a busy, yet quite challenging month for the project here in Ao Nang, due to the fact that I have had to spend much of the month in Bangkok having physiotherapy after sustaining a slipped disc, and thus having to manage the project from afar. However, for the majority of the month, Pam, our Field Coordinator, has held the fort very well and the activities have achieved the desired results.

At the beginning of the month, Ao Nang Scuba had their annual assessment by Greenfins, the organisation that promotes marine conservation and environmental awareness amongst dive operators in Thailand. The Greenfins coordinator gave a short presentation on their 'Reef Watch' survey methods, and all the volunteers joined in carrying out two surveys using special Reef Watch slates provided. The results were interesting though somewhat expected; the two volunteers that had completed our reef monitoring programme were able to carry out the survey to a good standard, but the new volunteers with minimal training in marine life observation found it quite hard to identify the required species or coral forms, and consequently felt a bit disheartened by the experience. This goes to show how valuable our own reef monitoring training programme really is, and that the skills the volunteers develop whilst they are on the project allow them to collect reliable data.

So, the new volunteers began the second round of the Projects Abroad Reef Monitoring Programme soon after the Greenfins day, and all thoroughly enjoyed the start of what is hopefully a learning process that will provide them more enjoyment and satisfaction for the rest of their diving lives. The first phase of the programme was completed successfully with everyone looking forward to the start of phase two, which for the first time will run concurrently with the newest volunteers starting phase one. Amongst the many wonderful creatures that have been spotted under the sea during February are leopard sharks, four tiger-tail seahorses, a clown triggerfish, many Kuhl's stingrays at the artificial reef at Ao Tonsai, and a rabbitfish eating a jelly fish which was caught in a sea anemone's tentacles.

Our marine salvage efforts have continued as usual, with volunteers collecting 74.7 kg of debris from four different sites. The biggest haul was at Mu Sang Nua where the volunteers found one enormous fishing net covering both pinnacles and the entire reef. They removed as much as possible on the two dives that they had there that day, freeing hermit crabs, magnificent sea anemones, diadema sea urchins, a porcupine fish, and obviously many coral species. However, they were only able to remove about 15% of the net. Consequently, we are trying to arrange a day, or most probably several as the net is so big, in early March to go and remove the rest of it with the help of the Marine Park authorities. This is obviously an urgent mission as a beautiful reef is currently being smothered with the net posing a risk to many marine organisms.

On the terrestrial side of the project, we have had three days in the mangroves, one big beach clean-up, and a couple of days developing presentation materials for environmental awareness days. Starting with the mangrove work, one day was spent collecting another two hundred Ceriops tagal seeds from Klong Jilat, clearing another area of waterlogged ground at our new research nursery at Ban Thung Prasan, and planting half the seeds in bags and the other half straight into the ground, with both sets being at the mercy of blazing sun. This means that now the planting of one species under the various conditions set out in phase one of our research project is complete; these conditions being seeds planted in bags or straight into the ground, out in the open sunlight or under a construction providing the seeds with shade, in waterlogged ground that is flooded by most high tides or on higher ground that is inundated only a couple of days every fortnight during the spring tides. We will visit the nursery again in a month or so to monitor the progress of each batch of seeds, and hopefully begin to discover the best growing conditions for this species.

On the other mangrove days, the volunteers visited all four of the sites where previous Projects Abroad volunteers have planted seeds or saplings over the last year and three quarters. This is a bi-annual activity to monitor the growth and survival rates of the planted trees. Out of these four sites, the trees planted at Klong Rad are coping the best with survival rates of over 80% and all the surviving trees looking really healthy. Klong Khaomao and Ban Thung Prasan have estimated survival rates of 50 - 60%, although at the latter this is very variable depending on the soil condition and height above the low tide mark of the klong (canal); if the young saplings or seeds are inundated daily, they often do not survive or are washed away with the out-going tide. The trees in Klong Yuan are unfortunately not faring so well, with an estimated survival rate of 25%. This may be due to toxicity of the soil resulting from the previous use of the land as a shrimp farm; a suggestion put forward by staff from Wetlands International (an international environmental NGO) that joined us that day. This is something that we will need to investigate before replanting the area again using the same method as before so as not to waste time and effort in the future.

The one beach clean-up this month was on Koh Klang, an inhabited island in the mouth of the Krabi River. The beaches on Koh Klang are always logistically difficult due to the inter-tidal mudflats that extend out over a kilometre from the shore at low tide. Whilst fantastic feeding grounds for seabirds and waders, it prevents access with long-tail boats for large portions of the day. Despite this, these beaches are on our target list for clean-ups since so much of the debris that is washed down the Krabi River ends up on them. This time we were joined by various local groups; six staff from Rayavadee Resort (a 5 star luxury resort) on Railey Beach, all four staff from Umbrella Pub (the most popular watering-hole of the volunteers and staff alike), and the editor and photographer of the Krabi Magazine (a monthly English-language magazine on activities and events in the local area). It was a very hot day and the beach at the beginning of the day seemed endless for everyone involved; in fact it was about 3 to 4 km long. Everyone worked extremely hard and collected a total of 392 kg of rubbish, 178 of which was glass, mostly broken! Although everyone was completely exhausted at the end of it, everyone enjoyed the day, it was a great environmental awareness-raising exercise as local people were involved and in the March edition of the Krabi Magazine there is now a two page article on the event. Additionally, Kik and the rest of the Umbrella Pub staff have seen a different side to Projects Abroad volunteers and now truly appreciate the amount of effort all you put into conserving the environment in Krabi.

A lot of effort has also been devoted this last month to developing interactive games and educational activities in preparation for a school conservation camp over the first weekend of March that has been organised by ourselves, Wetlands International and the Krabi Port Authority; the outcome of this will follow in next month's update. As well as this awareness-raising project, the volunteers also updated and revamped the presentation boards that previous volunteers had made for the Queen's Birthday celebrations and school presentations following the International Beach Clean-up last year. These were then used on two separate occasions; once at a local Muslim fair and the other at the opening of a local government conservation initiative hosted at the Rayavadee Resort on Railey Beach. The former was at the request of Eed, our driver-come-security guard, with him explaining Projects Abroad's work in the local area. The latter was a high publicity affair, with the Deputy Governor of Krabi along with various other government environment departments, four groups of children from local schools, all five Thai TV stations and numerous paparazzi present. Projects Abroad were the only foreigners with an official presence, and the very fact that we were there I am sure will have a positive impact on the environmental awareness of those witness to the occasion, both in person and from the TV or newspaper. After speeches were given, the Fisheries Department donated many bags of juvenile fish and some giant clams that they had bred for release by VIPs, some lucky tourists and Projects Abroad. We were presented with 30 Barramundi cod (the rarest and most expensive grouper species found in the Andaman Sea) and 5 batfish to release at a site of our choosing so as to monitor their growth and survival rates. The volunteers consequently released them at Koh Daeng, a local island, so we will try to visit this site as regularly as possible over the coming months to assess the success of the release programme, although it must be said that groupers are quite reclusive fish and also nocturnal feeders so it may be quite hard to spot them on future surveys.

On a more recreational note, the volunteers had a day of Thai cooking and culture with Suwat, Sao and Ta. They went to the market early in the morning where they had Thai-style breakfast amongst every kind of vegetable, fruit and animal you can imagine - quiet an experience! They then collected pepper and cashew nuts from the garden and various leaves from the jungle learning about all their culinary properties, and then all cooked lunch together. It sounded like a fantastic day, which I was very sorry to miss being in Bangkok at the time, and it has had a profound effect on one volunteer, Jack, who now helps Ta in the kitchen several nights a week.

In amongst this busy schedule, three volunteers went off to the Similan Islands for four day live-a-board trip in luxury aboard the Manta Queen II. This is a trip some volunteers occasionally chose to pay extra for during their time on the project, the last one being in November. However, this time the volunteers were incredibly lucky and saw almost everything there is to see underwater! The highlights being snorkeling with a whale shark for fifteen minutes and then also diving with it, as well as spotting ghost pipefishes, frogfishes, an octopus and a school of twenty or so manta rays; they came back very happy and satisfied volunteers.

So, at the end of a slightly unconventional month due to my absence from the marine project here in Ao Nang, I am pleased to say that we are on track for the activities planned for March. A month that looks like it will be packed full of variety, hard work and plenty of fun and exciting new experiences for the present volunteers, and the five new volunteers that have arrived in the last week. They have all worked extremely hard the last few weeks so my gratitude goes out to them as without the volunteers' dedication, both past and present, we would not be able to achieve the positive results that the project aims to have in the local region.

Marten Meynell
Conservation Manager
4th March 2007
Projects Abroad

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