Dive closures don't go far enough: conservationist

Asia One - 

The founder of the For Sea Foundation (FSF) is urging authorities to close dive sites in more national marine parks on the Andaman Sea, claiming the recent closure of 18 sites in seven parks does not go far enough.

The National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department on Thursday announced the measure, which is intended to allow coral reefs bleached by high sea temperatures time to recover.

But in an article titled "Coral Bleaching: Stop Damage and Recover the Rest", FSF founder and Prime Minister's Office secretary Vittayen Muttamara wrote that scientific studies had identified more sites in the Andaman that had been severely damaged by bleaching.

The data, which were used by the department in its decision to close the parks, were collected from the middle of last year.

Vittayen said the studies showed coral reefs in Surin National Marine Park and on the east coast of Similan Island were severely damaged, but the department had closed only two sites in those parks.

"The department should urgently survey all coralreef sites and update their database to decide which sites they should close," Vittayen wrote in the article.

To reduce the impact on the tourism industry, the department has closed only sites that have been severely damaged.

Read more...

Posted via http://batavia08.posterous.com batavia08's posterous