Special Report - artificial reef generating project started

[TV Channel 11]

This is a worthwhile artificial reef generating project.
On Monday the 23rd of January the project by the Phuket Marine Biological Center or PMBC was officially launched by Vice Governor Nirund Kalayanamitra in Bangtao Bay, of Cherng Talay district, near luxury 5 star resorts and the Muslim fishing community, who share the Andaman Sea coast here.
The local people had previously agreed and discussed the positioning of the project with the PMBC, under the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and also joined the Cherng Thale Administrative Organization to promote it.
The Director of PMBC, Wannakiat Thubthimsang, explained to us how this project grew: “We have this project combining 2 projects. The 1st is artificial reefs of 50 cubes, the other source of budget is from tsunami rehabilitation, so we also construct the same type of 280 more blocks, so total 330 blocks in Bang Tao Bay in Phuket province.”
They plan to scatter the 1.5 metre long cubes or blocks in about a 1 kilometre square area near Waew Island at about 10-15 metre depths well away from the popular shores.
The district office plans to promote the location with marker buoys as a new scuba diving site as it will attract coral and fish over the years. The artificial reefs will also be sources of food for all kinds of marine lives creating natural food chains and lead to better undersea ecological systems, and also attract small scale sustainable fishing in long-tail boats. Whether the two diving and fishing communities can share the sites remains to be seen, but Wannakiart emphasized the local people’s participation: “We have done this project under participation of people in this area every step, with fishermen and owners of dive shops, so after deployment we ask groups of fishermen in long tail boats to take care of the reefs.”
The PMBC staff will also check them and evaluate how many come to use to artificial reefs. The cubes size and shape should also prevent larger trawler fishing vessels from using this fragile area. It will take about 3 years for colonies of coral to form on the concrete, and in about 8-9 years they should look as natural as normal reefs.
The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources is planning over the next 2 months to place more of them in Bang Tao bay as the first location, before expanding to 6 more sites; 1 at Kata-Karon bay, and 1 at Coral-Bon islands, 2 sites in Racha Yai islands, all in Phuket province; then 1 near Phi Phi and 1 near Ao Nang area in Krabi province; some blocks will be in 20-30 metre depths, and all will be outside of the natural marine sanctuary and national parks.
Wannakiat also revealed some of the costs:“One site is 1.5 million baht for 280 cubed blocks.”
Meanwhile the Cherng Talay administrative body administrator Samart Sa-ke said his office will spend 600,000 baht to promote the Bangtao artificial reef as a new diving site, as there is also an old tin dredge capsized under the sea there for a long time and they should both attract more divers’ interest.

The tourism community should welcome this initiative which will pay back some of the damage done by man and nature over the last few years.

Special Report for Andaman News TV11 Phuket, broadcast to Phang Nga, Krabi & Phuket + Radio Thailand FM90.5 Phuket, 8.30am Wednesday 25 January 2006 & http://www.thaisnews.com/news_detail.php?newsid=159709
to see mini-video.

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Also see Interview for Andaman News TV11 Phuket, broadcast to Phang Nga, Krabi & Phuket + Radio Thailand FM90.5 Phuket, 8.30am Wednesday 25 January 2006 http://www.thaisnews.com/news_detail.php?newsid=159710

Our interview is with long time resident Bill O’Leary, Director of Amancruises, who takes out celebrity and high end clients on luxury boats from his base in Bangtao Bay. He had just found out from us about the new artificial reef generating project nearby, but gave his firm support:
…………..
(He also wrote and compiled new book “Tsunami Stories: Thailand” www.tsunamistoriesthailand.com )
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[LivinLOS]

I think as a tourist island the heath and quality of the sea is one of the biggest draws here.. As reef seeding is relatively low tech and inexpensive IMHO they should do this to each bay on the island.. Increase fish stock, increase swimming and snorkeling opportunities, and also create a local appreciation for maintaining the environment..

[faultytowers]

Years ago , went diving of the Florida Keys , they had taken 2 Coastguard ships which were to be decommissioned and sank them as an artificial reef. Within a few years they had become one of the most popular dive sites , so hopefully , this project will work and attract a lot of divers.

The Duane was built in 1935. She is 327 feet long, with a 41 foot beam. She served as a US Coast Guard Cutter, seeing service patrolling offshore of Florida during WW II, in Europe during the invasion of France, and patrolling the coast of Vietnam. She did search and rescue in later peacetime years and was decommissioned in 1985. A consortium of diveshops and other organizations arranged for the Duane and the Bibb (the Duane's sister ship) to be stripped and prepared as artificial reefs and divesites. The doors were removed above the main deck and the lower compartments were sealed. Both ships were sunk in 1987

[LivinLOS]

I have seen footage also where they put lots of decomissioned tanks into the ocean to make an artificial reef.. Again big dive site and massive fish boom etc..

Really oceans act as the life support system for the planet.. when you see them getting sick etc its a worrying trend..

[Crustasian]

These new reefs at these shallow areas will become popular for snorkelling and training dive sites.The bonus is no long boat trips to the diving.

Let's hope more are on the way.

You just can't keep Bill O'Leary down.(A good Aussie of Irish ancestry)

[stevem]

tuk tuk's would make a good artificial reef base.

Seriously though, this is a great initiative.

[LivinLOS]

Actually a sensible, cheap initiative with not much room for graft.. Makes a change huh !!

As I said with tourism being Phukets main income generator for the whole economy this should be being done in all shallow water areas to create 'reef breaks'.. Of course allow a deep water channel for boat access but the benefits of this are clear..

[eric-the-viking]

To be honest i belive they could use a couple more wreck sites around phuket for the divers,
King cruiser is an ok/average dive but its depth can make it unaccesable for novice and training divers.
the must be a couple of old tugs or boats of some form which could fit the bill as a reef base and give a taster for begineer divers .I know in Malta they did just this and its a very enjoyable couple of dives.
but all in all still good idea and good for the enviroment.

[Lord_Farquard]

Originally Posted by eric-the-viking

To be honest i belive they could use a couple more wreck sites around phuket for the divers,
King cruiser is an ok/average dive but its depth can make it unaccesable for novice and training divers.
the must be a couple of old tugs or boats of some form which could fit the bill as a reef base and give a taster for begineer divers .I know in Malta they did just this and its a very enjoyable couple of dives.
but all in all still good idea and good for the enviroment.

There is one coming back into the harbor up north. I don't remember the name tho. Viz was ok, there was more stuff to see in the sand than on the wreck itself. There was a really cool frog fish in some of the trash off to the side, too well hidden to get a pic thou.

[faultytowers]

Slightly OT , but still to do with diving. While at Sharm El Shiek(Sinai) I managed to dive the wreck of HMS Thistlegorm, a British cargo ship taking supplies to the British Eighth Army in North Africa . The ship was sunk by the Germans in October 1941. Interesting thing was that a lot of the cargo is still there and you can see trucks , motorbikes and ............about 1000 pairs of Wellington boots.(never worked that one out !!!).

[dogblower]

Originally Posted by faultytowers

.......about 1000 pairs of Wellington boots.(never worked that one out !!!).

Faulty intelligence ... somebody had told them there were a lot of sheep wherever it was they were going.

[aussie dollar]

here in oz they have sunken lots of ex naval boats with great sucess creating artifical reefs and great marine envoirments and great diving.
also old tyres have been used with great results also.
http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/about_the_...tificial_reef/
http://www.fishsa.com/gpsartrc.php

[dogblower]

Originally Posted by eric-the-viking

To be honest i belive they could use a couple more wreck sites around phuket for the divers,
King cruiser is an ok/average dive but its depth can make it unaccesable for novice and training divers.
the must be a couple of old tugs or boats of some form which could fit the bill as a reef base and give a taster for begineer divers .

The truth is that what mostly stops it in Thai waters is the endless paperwork and bureaucracy. Several attempts that I know of have been made around Phuket, but no matter how well intentioned people have been they have usually just given up in the end. We were very lucky that King Cruiser wasn't salvaged in the end - it was a close run thing. An overturned gypsum barge near Phi Phi a few years ago had to be towed out of Thai waters before it was allowed to "slip" its tow and sink just because of the number of officials and government departments who wanted to get involved.

[Lord_Farquard]

Originally Posted by faultytowers

Slightly OT , but still to do with diving. While at Sharm El Shiek(Sinai) I managed to dive the wreck of HMS Thistledown, a British cargo ship taking supplies to the British Eighth Army in North Africa . The ship was sunk by the Germans in October 1941. Interesting thing was that a lot of the cargo is still there and you can see trucks , motorbikes and ............about 1000 pairs of Wellington boots.(never worked that one out !!!).

Just a small point, the ship is the Thistlegorm. there is even two locomotives there one in the sand, and one still on board. A very impressive dive site.

[faultytowers]

Originally Posted by Lord_Farquard

Just a small point, the ship is the Thistlegorm.

Oops ,

[eric-the-viking]

Originally Posted by Lord_Farquard

Just a small point, the ship is the Thistlegorm. there is even two locomotives there one in the sand, and one still on board. A very impressive dive site.

what sort of depths are they out of interest ?
i quite fancy a week out there on a live aboard
any how i know in Pattaya they have sunk i think it was an armoured personnel carrier and a i think a couple of vessels for the same sort of reason .
so that could be another reason to have a week in Pattaya

[Lord_Farquard]

Originally Posted by eric-the-viking

what sort of depths are they out of interest ?
i quite fancy a week out there on a live aboard
any how i know in Pattaya they have sunk i think it was an armoured personnel carrier and a i think a couple of vessels for the same sort of reason .
so that could be another reason to have a week in Pattaya

The ship that faulty was refering to is in the Red Sea (almost in the shipping lanes ). All of the wrecks that I have seen in LOS are diveable, no more than 40 meters to the sand.

happy bubbles

[eric-the-viking]

Originally Posted by Lord_Farquard

The ship that faulty was refering to is in the Red Sea (almost in the shipping lanes ). All of the wrecks that I have seen in LOS are diveable, no more than 40 meters to the sand.

happy bubbles

thanks i know they are in the red sea,but 40m hmmmmm would need special divers insurance then instead of just ordinary travel insurance ,which is what i was wondering about ,oh well never mind.

[Lord_Farquard]

Originally Posted by eric-the-viking

thanks i know they are in the red sea,but 40m hmmmmm would need special divers insurance then instead of just ordinary travel insurance ,which is what i was wondering about ,oh well never mind.

That is to the sand, the deck is perhaps 20M. You are going to look in the ships holds, thats where the stuff is. The sand is interesting, lots of ship parts, ammo, and a train engine, but you don't have to go there if you are not comfortable. If you can dive 20m, then you won't have problem.
Do you have DAN insurance? If you get their master plan, $99us/ year, you are insured to any depth. Just an FYI