Handbook for Dive Controller Training Course for Tourism and Coral Reef Ecosystem Sustainability Office of Marine and Coastal Resources Conservation Department of Marine and Coastal Resources Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Handbook for Dive Controller Training Course for Tourism and Coral Reef Ecosystem Sustainability Contents page Preface 1 Section 1 3 The geographic character and management of Thai marine and coastal areas 3 1.1 The marine and coastal geography of Thailand 3 1.2 Coastal features of the Gulf of Thailand and Andaman Sea 3 1.3 Important coastal resources and environments 5 1.4 Marine Protected Areas 6 Section 2 7 The Coral Reef Ecosystem 7 2.1 Coral biology 7 2.1.1 What is coral? 7 2.1.2 Coral species in Thailand 7 2.1.3 Coral reproduction 8 2.1.4 Feeding behavior and growth 11 2.2 Coral reef formation 13 2.3 Chemical and physical factors influencing reef development 15 2.4 Balance of the coral reef ecosystem 16 2.5 Marine life in coral reef ecosystems 18 2.6 Food webs in the coral reef ecosystem 20 2.7 Dangerous coral reef creatures 22 2.8 Coral reef structure and environment 30 Andaman Sea 30 Gulf of Thailand 34 2.9 Coral reef status in Thailand 36 2.10 Coral reef status in Thailand 37 Problems arising from human causes 38 Naturally occurring problems 45 2.11 How do coral reefs recover naturally? 51 Section 3 54 The benefit of coral reefs 54 3.1 Importance of reefs tying in with human lifestyles 54 3.2 Types of marine tourism in Thailand 55 3.3 Impacts on coral reefs from tourism 56 Session 4 59 Coral reef vulnerability 4.1 Factors related to the vulnerability of coral and risk of damage from diving activities 59 4.2 Choosing suitable areas for diving activities 61 Session 5 62 Diving destination in Thailand 62 5.1 The east coast of the Gulf of Thailand 62 5.2 Inner part of the Gulf of Thailand 62 5.3 West coast of the Gulf of Thailand 62 5.4 Andaman Sea 63 5.5 Artificial reef and shipwreck dive sites 64 Session 6 66 Laws and regulations involved with diving tourism 66 6.1 Laws which protect resources in relation to diving activities 66 6.1.1 Act on the Promotion of Marine and Coastal Resources Management, B.E. 2558 (2015) 66 6.1.2 Announcement of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment “Measures to Protect Coral Resources from Diving Tourism Activities, Year...” (draft) 67 6.1.3. National Park Act, B.E. 2504 69 6.1.4 Announcements and other regulations concerning the National Park Act, B.E. 2504 71 6.1.5. Wild Animal Reservation and Protection Act, B.E. 2562 (2019) 74 6.1.6. Royal Ordinance on Fisheries B.E. 2558 (2015) 75 6.1.7 Enhancement and Conservation of the National Environmental Quality Act, B.E. 2535 77 6.1.8 Announcement by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment: Determination of the Area and Measures for Environmental Protection 79 6.2 Laws relative to controlling and supervising underwater tour operators and protection of divers 81 6.2.1 Tourism Business and Guide Act (Second Edition) B.E.2559 81 6.2.2. Ministerial Regulations on Tourism and Sports: Permission required for tourism businesses to operate B.E. 2561 82 6.3 Measures relative to diving 83 6.3.1 Use of mooring buoys for various purposes 83 6.3.2 Methods for correct mooring buoy use as advised by National Parks 83 6.3.3 Special cases for diving site closure 84 6.3.4 Limitation of the number of tourists 84 6.3.5 Announcement of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plants to limit the number of tourists 85 6.4 Conservation activities and cooperation in conservation activities 86 Session 7 88 Standards for diving tourism operations 88 7.1 Scuba diving standards 88 7.2 Environmentally friendly scuba diving and snorkeling 90 7.3 Analysis of the activities and skills essential for tourists to access dive sites 92 7.4 Providing knowledge to tourists 92 References / Read more 93 1 Preface The Seas are the Earth's most important resource. Marine ecosystems are full of diverse marine life, they are a source of food and energy, and are valuable resources for the tourism industry. Thailand is a country which has many tourism destinations. It is one of the ASEAN countries with the most varied marine activities in the region and has a marine area of over 350,000 square kilometres including the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. Thailand lies between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and forms a link between the two. It has one of the richest and most diverse marine environments and Thai people benefit from the sea in the fishing, transportation, energy and industrial fields, including tourism, an important industry which brings significant revenue to the country. There are many kind of marine tourism. One of these is underwater tourism, such as scuba diving, seawalking and snorkelling. At present bringing tourists into the beautiful but fragile marine ecosystem, especially the coral reef ecosystem, is becoming increasingly popular. Many tourists are interested in visiting Thailand to engage in these activities. Some places are becoming intensive destinations for underwater tourism, such as Koh Khai Nai and Koh Khai Nok in Phang Nga Province, Koh Racha Yai in Phuket Province, Koh Phi Phi in Krabi Province and Koh Tao in Surat Thani Province. Coral Reef tourism brings great revenues but at the same time, has a significant impact on the ecosystem because of behavior such as stepping on coral, collecting or touching marine wildlife, and physical impacts by divers or dive leaders. Such impacts from tourists, divers, tour leaders, instructors as well as from anchoring by the boats which bring tourists to dive sites create unsustainable use. Although dive leaders know international diving standards, they might lack knowledge about the Thai environment and ecosystems as well as the law, regulation and management which are specific to some areas. In foreign countries, coral reef tourism is an activity which is intensively controlled, and many countries have strict regulations, such as the Maldives, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc. The governmental sector is one of the sectors that must control this tourism so that it is suitable, leading to long-term sustainable use. However, Thailand lacks a clear framework for transmitting knowledge and controlling such activities. This will therefore bring increasing problems in the future as the number of tourists grows. According to the government’s tourism promotion policy, in order to have the greatest benefit from controlling these activities clearly, this dive leader training has been created as a strategy for establishing standards for tourism that promote coral reef conservation and protection. The Office of Marine and Coastal Resources Conservation, Department of Marine and Coastal Resources has created measures to protect tourists from illegal practices. Therefore this Office has drafted the Announcement of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment 2 “Measures to Protect Coral Resources from Diving Tourism” inline with the Marine and Coastal Resources Management Promotion Act 2558, Section 22 & 23. This Announcement’s goal is to control, advise and provide services for tourists, dive leaders, guides, instructors, tourism entrepreneurs, and all people who take part in subaquatic tourism on coral reefs. This Announcement has also determined the measures and the methodology of dive tourism in order to suit coral reefs’ status. For this reason, tourists who wish to go diving must have a dive controller present on every dive. The Announcement also specifies that the dive leader must pass the Dive Controller Training Course for Tourism and Coral Reef Ecosystem Sustainability of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources. In order to prepare for the reception of this Announcement, and to prepare all individuals involved with marine underwater tourism to abide by the law and to meet the objective of coral reef resource protection, the Office of Marine and Coastal Resources Conservation has developed and improved the Curriculum for Dive Controller Training Course for Tourism and Coral Reef Ecosystem Sustainability, which will be used to train dive controllers and increase the quality of their service and their capacity to meet the standards of the Announcement. 3 Section 1 The geographic character and management of Thai marine and coastal areas 1.1 The marine and coastal geography of Thailand Thailand is located on the Indo-Chinese peninsula and Malay Archipelago between the latitudes 5o 37’ N to 20o 27’ N and longitudes 97 o 22’ E to 105 o 37’ E. The total area is 513,115 km2. Thailand has a maritime zone covering more than two-thirds of the land area, or 350,000 km2. The length of Thailand’s shoreline is approximately 3,148 kilometers along 23 provinces, 2,055 kilometers of which border the Gulf of Thailand and the remaining 1,093 km, facing the Andaman Sea. Major coastal resources include mangrove forests, mudflats, sandy beaches, rocky beaches, coral reefs and seagrass beds. Map showing the Thai’s sea; Internal Waters (green) Territorial Sea (yellow) Contiguous Zone (brown) Exclusive Economic Zone: (EEZ) (dark blue) 1.2 Coastal features of the Gulf of Thailand and Andaman Sea The Gulf of Thailand (G.O.T.) is characterized as a drowned river valley estuary. The G.O.T. can be divided into 4 regions; the upper region (from Petchaburi Province to the western part of Chonburi), eastern region (from the eastern part of Chonburi Province to Trat), mid-western region (from Prachuab Kirikhan Province to Chumporn) and lower-western region (from Suratthani Province to Narathiwas).