Coral of Maya Bay "far from ready"

by Pratch Rujivanrom

The corals of Maya Bay are not yet powerful enough to withstand the influx of visitors. The latter from the Department of Plant Conservation, Parks and National Parks (DNP) explains the reasons for the indefinite closure of the bay.

Although the iconic tourist attraction of Krabi Had Nopparat National Park Tara-Mu Ko Phi Phi has been banned for four months to facilitate the restoration of coral reefs, there have been only slight signs of coral recovery, according to the report. evaluation of the experts on the site. Experts explained that this was due to decades of damage caused by tourism activities on the coral reefs of Maya Bay. The reefs therefore needed more time to recover and gain enough strength to withstand the impact of tourism before the bay could be reopened.

Songtam Suksawang, director of the DNP National Parks Office, said the assessment of coral reef restoration efforts in Maya Bay revealed only very little improvement in the state reefs and the ratio of dead corals to living corals was still greater than two to one. "The coral reefs of Maya Bay can be divided into three sections: the first section of the shallow reef plain north of the beach, the second section of the shallow reef apartment of the beach and the third section from the to the edge of the bay, "said Songtam.

"None of these reefs have shown a satisfactory recovery rate. Our study found that the coral growth rate of the three reefs of Maya Bay was less than 1% from the pre-closure period. "

According to the latest DNP survey on coral reefs in Maya Bay, the first section of the reef north of the beach was found to have the highest number of live corals, with 19.93%, an increase of 0 , 65% after the coral restoration operation. has been undertaken.

Suphaphon Prempree, Coral Reef Restoration Operations Officer, explained the higher proportion of live corals in this area, compared to other sections, to lower impacts from shipping and tourism activities.

The second part of the waterfront remains the most damaged area of ​​Maya's coral reefs. Only 2.83% of the corals in this area are alive, as this part of the reefs had the greatest impact from tourist activities, but this area also experienced the largest increase compared to the previous operation, with 0.93 %.

In the third part of the reef at the edge of the bay, the number of live corals increased by 0.18%, the lowest recovery rate compared to other regions, bringing to 16% the current proportion of corals live in this area.

By examining the current state of Maya Bay's coral reefs, Supaphon concluded that the resilience and natural recovery capacity of the reefs are still too low to allow the reopening of the bay to tourists.

"The coral reef recovery rate will gradually increase over time if we leave the reefs aside to let them rest and recover naturally," she said. "Given the pace of restorations and the extent of reef damage, I am convinced that Maya Bay's coral reefs can regain their original beauty by simply letting nature heal itself, but that will require decades of limiting human activities in the Bay Area. . "

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