Text by: Sylvie Yaffe

Photos by: Songpol Tippaywong 

Marine scientists are surveying the extent of an uncharted reef off Tai Muang, Phang Nga, which they believe covers an area of at least four square kilometres – far larger than any previously known reef in the region. However the discovery of the new reef also brings challenges - to protect and manage the latest pearl in the Andaman Sea.

Khun Songpol Tippaywong, Head of Marine & Coastal Resources Unit for the WWF, said at a press conference that such a finding is very rare. The Department of Marine Coastal Resources have verified that it is new and not yet listed. He said no dive companies have yet accessed this site, but they could easily reach it from Khao Lak, and scuba divers could dive down the 6-8 metres to find it, just like the fishermen. He was therefore reluctant to reveal its exact location.

The discovery in the first week of January followed information given by local fisherman. “We never thought the reef would be so large,” said Khun Songpol, who is a Phang Nga native. “I have never seen a reef that is [even] one kilometre square in Thailand, and so far we have surveyed four square kilometres of this new reef. It is actually bigger; we have yet to survey the exact boundaries.”

270 hectares

Initial quick surveys have identified over 270 hectares of previously unknown relatively healthy reefs with over 30 genera of stony coral, and at least 112 species of fish from 56 families, including the parrotfish Chlorurus rakaura, first discovered in Sri Lanka and never seen in Thailand until now, and a rare sweetlips (Plectorhinchus macrospilus).

Prior to discovering the reef Tippaywong was working for the WWF on two separately funded projects for conservation. One, a “Green Coast” project, is funded by the Netherlands and the other project was funded by UNEP. Finding an undiscovered coral reef was not part of the plan. “We say it is new coral reef but it has been there for many generations. This coral is not officially included in the coral map of Thailand,” Songpol explained. “This is the reason why it’s a new coral reef because there is no official report of it. During the tin mining period many years ago they possibly considered this area of coral as degraded.” His first reaction was “Marvelous! It was great. Very big and healthy. I never imagined a reef of that size. I thought it would probably be just some patchy coral. It is completely different from Similans, Surins or Richelieu. It is not sloping, but is more flat like a plateau.” He said the condition of the reef was very healthy with only about 1% tsunami damage. He said he has never before seen a reef that is one kilometre wide by one kilometre long in Thailand, although currently they have surveyed over four square kilometres.

Unseen in Thailand

Songpol and his team have been back to the reef many times now gathering scientific information. “It is home to species never before seen in Thailand as well as species that are rare and only seen in the Similans.. We also found one rock with over 20 individual lobsters. We named that site Lobster Condo.” The staff from National Park provided the boat and support to facilitate our work in the area. The exact location is currently being kept a secret, and Songpol would like to take precautions before revealing the location.

“Right now I don’t tell anyone exactly where it is. We must survey it, and collect all the necessary information, such as the coral status. The exact boundary is probably bigger than this. We consider this as having a good capacity of promoting tourism in the area after having a good management plan. We are in the middle of doing a field survey and collecting scientific data in order to zone the area and put insome mooring buoys.” Songpol explains that there are many challenges to protecting and organizing the management of the reef. “There are a lot of good laws in Thailand. However the enforcement needs to be more effective. It’s manageable but we have to get involvement from all state authorities and all stake holders: tour operators, local fishermen and local communities.” Future plans include improving management strategies, raising awareness among local people, zoning, coral restoration and reintroduction of some rare species, and promoting tourism with participation from local villagers. Already 100 giant clams have been introduced on to the reef. However he does not see tourism or diving as a threat to the reef. “If we have some egulations like UNEP’s Green Fins and a code of conduct, we can control the carrying capacity or setup some regulations,” he explains. “The dive operators love nature and are willing to help all kinds of conservation activities. I also understand they have to make a profit. We need to get all stakeholders involved in managing natural resources. We cannot do it ourselves or with just one or two authorities. Without participation from locals, dive operators, and tour operators we won’t get any effective management. [For monitoring the reef] I would like to use a camera that takes photos of the same location, either weekly or monthly. This way the growth or degradation can be monitored. I don’t have a pessimist point of view for dive operators because I know that they love nature. They’re relying on the beauty of nature.”