Coral Bleaching in Thailand / Similan Islands

[adaminhongkong]

Hey everyone, I love diving the simians did my open water there and dove with mantas and I was hooked from day one. I also love KAO LAK and I had a chat with a fellow diver whilst diving Sipadan a while ago and he said that quite a large amount of the reefs and coral has been killed due to coral bleaching and global warming etc.....

IM REALLY HOPING THIS IS NOT TRUE!!!​

Can some old timers that have dove there for years and still do please fill me in or anyone who has in the past few years and recently, cos I'm looking to go back and do my DM and instructor there in the future.

Thanks a lot guys and happy diving....! Adam

 

[supergaijin]

Coral reefs pretty much everywhere in the world are degrading- sad truth but there you go.

Corals periodically bleach as a natural way of adding 'glue' to the reef. The coral breaks down and fills in gaps, cracks etc in the reef and different species need this to get a foot-hold. So not all coral bleaching is bad- similar to lightening-caused fires allowing rejuvenation of forests and grasslands.

Occasionally there are huge epidemics of bleaching as in the mid-nineties where reefs over a wide area suffer due to very warm water basically suffocating the reef. It will take hundreds of years in some cases for these reefs to bounce back. First to grow are the branching corals, which break down to add a layer to the reef where other corals can attach themselves. This alone normally takes decades.

There is a bunch of other ways to kill coral reefs over large areas- many are man-made such as clearing mangroves, building hotels on the beach, clearing forests upstream, factories releasing chemicals, fish-farms releasing toxins, acid rain.... it sounds fatalistic but coral reefs in general will probably not return to their pre-1990 state in our lifetimes.

However certain isolated reefs can and do benefit from stricter rules to curtail mankind's voracious appetite for destruction. Reef sanctuaries have shown to work in small areas where the rules can be better enforced, allowing protection from the more immediate threats of unsustainable fishing and tourism.

 

[stevenl]

There was coral bleaching some time ago at Similans and Surin Islands, especially the lower divesites and hard corals were damaged. Fortunately the temperatures have been considerably lower since and the corals are recovering fast.
This means that the diving there is going to be nice, but you will see some damage to the corals at certain divesites.

 

[adaminhongkong]

Thanks Superngaijin what you said was really helpful...

Steven do you know how long ago the bleaching was that you talk of.....
How long ago was "some time ago" the person I bumped into said it happened in the last couple of years.
I'd love for him to be wrong though.....

 

[limbo]

That was about two years ago.

 

[stevenl]

Thanks Superngaijin what you said was really helpful...

Steven do you know how long ago the bleaching was that you talk of.....
How long ago was "some time ago" the person I bumped into said it happened in the last couple of years.
I'd love for him to be wrong though.....

May-June 2010.

 

[lord khram]

What happened regarding the dive site closures at the time of this incident? Are they still in force? I was talking to someone earlier this year who said they had been on a liveaboard and some sites were still closed.
Been trying to find out the official story for some time but can not seem to get any answers.

 

[stevenl]

Since there was no diving done already at those sites before the closure (they simply did not offer good diving anymore) it really has no impact. As far as I know they are still closed though.

 

[Batfish]

Also .... the dive staff on the boats know which areas to avoid. I had customers last season surprised how healthy things were looking given that they had heard of bleaching, but this is down to the boats not diving at the worst affected areas. Would be the same anywhere in the world that had some reef damage. A good tour leader on a liveaboard will dive the best areas available.