Mooring Buoy Line Maintenance on Koh Tao
Mooring Buoy lines are an important part of the marine resource management toolbox around Koh Tao, protecting our coral reefs and the underwater living world from anchor damage caused by boats.
No Anchors
On Koh Tao, we have lots of dive boats visiting our dive sites so we install mooring buoys that allow these boats to securely moor over a reef without needing to drop an anchor.
This offers critical protection for our coral reefs, as an anchor landing on the reef can severely damage or destroy corals that have taken many years to grow.
The Koh Tao community along with individual dive centres under the guidance of the DMCR (Dept of Marine Conservation Resource), regularly survey existing mooring lines to ensure they are still secure and if not, they are restored.
The number of mooring lines is dependent on the size of the dive site. The bigger and busier the dive site, the more mooring lines for dive boats.
Establishing New Mooring Buoy Lines on Koh Tao
New mooring lines are developed on established sites and at new dive sites around Koh Tao, with the aim of preserving the beautiful dive sites for future generations to enjoy.
The DMCR in conjunction with non profit organisations such as Eco Koh Tao (and New Heaven conservation), conduct regular workshops with the dive centres and wider local community to train local scuba divers in mooring buoy installation.
The theory behind the regular training is the more divers that are proficient in installing mooring buoys, the easier and faster they can be installed, repaired or replaced.
By Order of DMCR
The government has introduced new legislation to support this important work including Department of Marine and Coastal Resources Order no. 755/2561
One of the directives in this order is that boats are strictly prohibited from using anchors in coral reef areas. Mooring buoys must be used when accessing the site.
Department of Marine and Coastal Resources Order
- The disposal at sea of garbage, waste water or any other pollutant is strictly prohibited.
- Feeding fish or other marine animals in coral reef areas for the purpose of catching them is strictly prohibited.
- Sea walker and other activities leading to harmful impacts on coral reefs are strictly prohibited.
Department of Marine and Coastal Resources Order no. 755/2561 entered into force on 1 December 2018. Offenders will be sentenced to a prison term of up to 1 year, or a fine of up to 100,000 baht, or both.
