Divers help clear coral reefs

2005-01-16 14:06

Patong Beach - Dozens of scuba divers are removing furniture and other debris swept into the ocean by the December 26 tsunami, hoping to rescue fragile coral reefs and marine life that have long made Thailand's southern coast a top tourist destination.

Strapping on air tanks and masks, divers from the environment ministry and as far away as Sweden and Britain plunged into the waters off Patong beach on Saturday at the start of an effort to clear popular underwater sites and revive the island's sagging tourism industry.

After combing the Patong coastline for four days, they plan to move south to another beach, Kata, for a similar cleanup organised by the department of marine and coastal resources, said Wannakiat Thubthinsang, director of the Phuket Marine Biological Centre.

"We will clear every beach in Phuket," he said. The divers, mostly volunteers, have been asked to collect "everything - furniture or construction cement blocks. ... The small ones they can pull up themselves, but the bigger ones they will mark by buoy and then ask the boats to come in," he said.

The UN Development Programme says debris such as suitcases, kitchen sinks and deck chairs threatens coral reefs - the delicate formations that are a habitat for marine life and an attraction for divers - and that it will provide equipment for the cleanup campaign.

Could take decades to heal

Scientists have yet to conduct a complete survey of damage to coral reefs from the tsunami that roared across the Indian Ocean, but experts fear some of Earth's most spectacular coral formations may carry scars for years.

Heavy debris such as trees and cars may have slammed into reefs like battering rams, while silt and sand may have buried and choked the tiny organisms that build them. Minor damage is repaired by the coral fairly quickly, but major reef destruction can take decades to heal, experts say.

Roland Ubasch, a 37-year-old diver from Valkenburg, Netherlands, said the group would first look through coral beds, then scan the area's sandy seabed.

"First we'll try to clear the coral because the waste can damage it," he said.

A former Swedish military diver, Johan Wachenfeldt, 57, said he would help clean the reefs after the tsunami, which killed several Swedish friends who helped him buy property in Phuket just two months ago. Many of the nearly 5 300 people who died in Thailand were northern Europeans.

- AP