Thailand welcomes over 550,0001 dive tourists each year and is home to over 80,000 certified divers of its own. Dive tourism in Thailand has increased by more than twenty-fold from 25,000 divers in 1985.

THE GREEN FINS PROGRAMME
Thailand joins The Philippines in being actively engaged with Green Fins.
The main reason the participating countries were selected is recognition of the importance of the Indo-Pacific in terms of their contribution to global marine biodiversity. As this inevitably makes countries in the region popular dive sites, there is the risk that they will be adversely impacted by dive tourism if conservation measures are not introduced pro-actively.
To promote the protection and preservation of the marine environment, a new project called Green Fins is being rolled out in Thailand. An initiative of the Coordinating Body of the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA), United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), the Green Fins mission is “to protect and conserve coral reefs by establishing and implementing environmentally friendly guidelines to promote a sustainable diving tourism industry”.
With decades of sustained growth in Thailand’s economic and tourism development, the impact of human activity on coral reefs is apparent. In the past, human impact on Thailand’s coral reefs were primarily from unsustainable practices such as dynamite and poison fishing. While these factors have not disappeared altogether, the environmental impact from dive tourism is potentially of more significance now. For example, the island of Koh Tao, a diving Mecca off the coast of Chumphon Province and Thailand’s most popular diving destination for all dive beginners, accounts for approximately 30 per cent of all dive certificates issued around the world. With the large numbers of divers visiting this island and other diving hotspots, inexperienced divers, reef-walking snorkellers and underwater photographers, as well as dive boat anchors, cause direct physical damage to coral.

Human-induced climate change is also leading to changes in temperature and sea level which in turn are causing changes in reef communities, such as bleaching and disease.
This makes it all the more important to reduce the impact people have on this fragile ecosystem. While climate change is inevitable, minimizing the impact from tourism-related activities can be more easily achieved.

Green Fins addresses the following environmental issues:
The expected outcomes of implementation of the Green Fins Programme are:

Increased awareness of good diving practices

Increased protective measures for coral reefs

Increased coral reef data and information at the selected sites

Improved coral reef health

The Phuket Marine Biological Centre (PMBC) and the Conservation Unit under the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DoMCR) have direct responsibility for coral reefs.
PMBC is coordinating Green Fins in Thailand and is facilitating the development of a network of environmentally friendly divers and dive operators. The programme was launched in Thailand on 29-30 May 2007. Seventy-seven (mostly foreign) diving companies and over 200 (mostly Thai) individuals from six provinces (Phuket, Krabi, Phang-nga, Satun, Trang and Surat Thani) are currently participating in the programme. Each has agreed to abide by the Green Fins Code of Conduct.


Project activities fall under three categories:
While diver-training courses such as PADI already emphasize how easy it is to disturb the sensitive marine environment, it is easy for divers to fall into poor habits. Green Fins awareness presentations remind participants to control their buoyancy and not touch marine life. Dive operators can reinforce these simple protocls with their guests.

Clear identification of impacts caused by tourism vis-เ-vis natural causes is important for managing reefs. Green Fins participants help PMBC scientists monitor reef health by conducting surveys using Reef Watch or Reef Check protocols. Reef conditions such as depth, topography, type and coverage of coral, water visibility and species indicative of environmental conditions are recorded. For example, urchins, snapper, butterfly fish, sea cucumber are indicators of environmental health. Changes on reefs detected by Green Fins surveyors such as marine life die-offs have alerted scientists to new and emerging threats such as cold-water upwellings and crown of thorns starfish. Seventy sites are currently monitored by Green Fins.

Special activities involving Green Fins participants are designed to protect and rehabilitate reefs.

For the complete article, and more information on Green Fins, go to http://www.tatnews.org/emagazine/3496.asp


ACKNOWLDEGEMENTS
Green Fins article Courtesy of The Tourism Authority of Thailand News Room
All images featured Copyright of the Phuket Marine Biological Centre (PMBC)
Sources of information:
The Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC), Green Fins Thailand, COBSEA Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia and TAT News Room. www.TATnews.org